The Leather Bound Sketchpad
by Selah M. Snow
Summary: That was it. He was it. Itachi Uchiha was the one she would draw. He knew how she felt in every aspect. Sure maybe their situations differed, but the feelings were the same. And so, from that drawing it all began. ItaSaku, with a tiny amount of SasuSaku.
1. Chapter 1

Sakura was sitting in the Godaime's personal library at a desk, hidden behind mountains of rare tomes. She was jotting down notes in her medical notebook as she studied to further enhance her already impressive knowledge and skill. She had already surpassed her teacher in this particular field, but she still yearned for more knowledge on the subject; the entire topic intrigued her.

Originally, when she chose to enter this field, she believed that it was simply used for healing others and nothing more. However, she quickly discovered that this conclusion was only a common fallacy. If you became a master Med-nin, as she was, there were no limits of what you could use it for. Sakura was constantly creating her own medically based offensive and defensive jutsu, some of which even the Hokage hadn't discovered. These discoveries only fueled her fascination.

All of this extensive knowledge was crammed into one singular, leather-bound notebook. The leather was black and visibly worn down. Sakura treated this notebook like it was a holy book- and to her it was. It was always stored inside of her medic pack along with medical necessities, her cherished sketchpad, and some other random items.

For today she was done studying. Now, it was time for Sakura's personal training with the fifth Hokage. At these training sessions, she refrained from using her medical skills and tried to use the sparring time to accelerate her skills in genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu.

Sakura was just about to pack up her things when a Chuunin appeared in the doorway of the library. He simply stood there looking at her. After a few minutes of him silently watching her pack her things, Sakura began to feel a bit agitated. She was on the verge of snapping at him to beat it if he was just going to gawk at her. That was when it dawned on her that no one but her, Shizune, and the Hokage herself were permitted to enter the library; it was restricted from others because of the secrets it held.

Sighing tiredly, Sakura walked over to the Chuunin who was waiting patiently to give her a message, most likely from the Hokage canceling today's training so she could get wasted and ditch more paperwork. After she was at her maximum alcohol intake, Tsunade would proceed to pass out on her unfinished mounds of paperwork.

When she reached the doorway, the Chuunin began, "Sakura Haruno, Apprentice of the Godaime, Head Medic-nin of Konoha, Head Ninja of the ANBU-" Sakura had cut him off with the wave of her hand; had he addressed all of her titles, they could be standing there for hours. It's mind-blowing that she was only fourteen and she had so many titles.

She studied the Chuunin momentarily—he looked about her age or older. His cropped, brown hair was messy and looked like he didn't have access to a comb. He had big, round, brown eyes that accented his tanned skin. He seemed very attentive and over-excited, so it was probably the first message the Hokage asked him to relay.

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting as I packed my things. Oh, and there's no need to list all of my titles… Sakura is fine," Sakura amended, just wanting to get things moving.

"Don't worry about keeping me waiting, I feel honored by simply being allowed to stand in the presence of the prestigious Sakura Haruno as she goes on with her daily tasks!" the boy exclaimed, his voice lacking the sarcasm that the sardonic remark should have held. It took her a few seconds to realize that he wasn't being the least bit cynical; in fact, the Chuunin was being entirely honest about how he felt.

Sakura cleared her throat uneasily and said sighing, "The message?" She received this sort of admiration often, but it never ceased to embarrass her.

"Oh, yes! I forgot what I came here for; I've been watching you for so long! Anyway, the admirable Hokage sent me to tell you that today's training session has been cancelled. However, you will be meeting her in her office tomorrow at 6:00 P.M. sharp!" the Chuunin exclaimed energetically.

It appeared that her prediction was correct. Instead of training she would probably go somewhere peaceful and draw. She would most likely wander off mindlessly and just plop down to draw wherever her mind felt content.

Sakura replied while smiling gently, "Thank you very much. You should probably report back to the Hokage now, though." He nodded in agreement and was on his way. Sakura walked over to the desk she was studying at and retrieved her medical pack.

After she secured her pack over her shoulder she walked out the door and performed to seals to lock the library and keep out unwanted intruders who were attempting to steal the secret knowledge inside.

Once she finished successfully completing the sealing jutsu, she exited the building. As she walked down the road, quite aimlessly, she stared at her feet, just thinking. Mainly random things, like what she learned today, nothing serious.

However, she looked up when she bumped into someone—it was Shikamaru.

Then there was a long sigh followed by, "What a drag…"

"Oh! Sorry about that, Shikamaru!" Sakura apologized, then asking, "Are you going cloud gazing?"

Shikamaru shook his head and said sighing, "Sadly, no. I would love to be doing that right now. I'm going to the meeting that Tsunade called. She said that it was an emergency. I have a feeling that it's about the Akatsuki… Either that, or maybe Orochimaru… Aren't you headed to her office now too?" Sakura just stood there, completely dumbfounded, wondering what meeting he was talking about. Tsunade hadn't invited to her to any meetings of any sort… Then it must not concern her.

"Ah, no, actually, I'm kind of wandering aimlessly right now. Have, umm… fun at your meeting though!" Sakura beamed, inwardly wondering what the meeting was about. After all, he hadn't called it a mission briefing, so it couldn't be just for his team… Was she still not good enough to be involved in important matters? Still too weak?

Plus, this apparently involved the very people she was after. Those people—the Akatsuki and Orochimaru—would lead her, without fail, to Sasuke.

Sasuke… Was he even worth the trouble? He had only rubbed her face in the dirt; did he honestly warrant her efforts and her care? Was he worth all the pain? Did he earn her patience and devotion?

Without waiting for an answer from Shikamaru, or even recalling his presence, she darted off. She was running quite slow-paced for her, but that was because she was more focused on her thoughts than anything.

Sakura just kept on running. Different questions kept on tumbling and tossing back and forth in her head. All of her feelings -her love, hate, confusion, sadness—it all revolved around him, it was all caused by him. But, was he worth it? Did he deserve to hold the dearest place in her heart? No, he owned her whole heart as well.

Even if he claimed to have "severed those bonds long ago," he couldn't demolish her feelings for him. But then who could? He had complete control over her, so it seemed. Yet, in all reality, she could control how she felt. Instead of actually thinking of herself, she handed over her soul to the devil and said, "Do as you please." The only person that could change how she felt about him was… herself.

She could if she was strong enough. However, Sakura couldn't possibly believe that she was courageous or solid enough. Sure, in battle she knew how and when to lay down the smack down, against anybody. In fact, it was a miracle that she hadn't killed anybody yet. Using her medical skills, she made sure that she never did, since she didn't want to become a mindless killing-machine like so many other powerful ninjas.

Is that what Sasuke had become as well? He was already egotistical, what happened when he attained more power? Did he become another person that let the power go to their head?

Snapping out of her reverie, hoping that she could find the will power to overcome the pain she let him cause, she looked to see where her legs took her. Sakura sighed and slapped herself in the forehead when she found herself of all places, inside of the Uchiha complex.

What was she supposed to do here? She could always venture around for a bit, after all, it was currently vacant. Then again, that would still be an invasion of the privacy of others. She thought for a minute, and after a moment's hesitation, she headed into the largest building hoping that this was where Sasuke's nuclear family lived.

When she walked in, she immediately noticed the stark bloodstains on the floor. She quickened her pace and entered the hallway, then turning into the nearest bedroom. This room was full of broken objects, torn pillows, and broken glass from the shattered window. Also, the bed was completely torched.

Maybe a bunch of zealous vandals came while they were drunk to trash the place. Then again, maybe it wasn't. To test her theory, she decided to check a few more rooms, since vandals wouldn't destroy one room and just leave, unless they were holding a long-lasting grudge against the deceased.

The next room she walked into was very neat, but coated with a nice layer of dust. There was also a few cobwebs here and there. The bed was king-sized and appeared plain, nothing too flashy or luxurious. The only other things in the room were a dresser and a desk.

Sakura walked over to a desk, since it appear to have something on top of it. She realized that it was a picture frame that was face down. It seemed to have a bit less dust on it than every thing else in the room. Sakura was going to lift up the frame to see what picture it contained, but decided better off it, not wanting to be snooping through the property of the dead. So she decided to move on to the next room.

The next room seemed a bit messy, like someone had lived there recently. She gasped, then realizing that this had to be Sasuke's room. It wasn't recently that he last lived there, in fact, he hadn't live there for two-and-a-half years, but the bed was unmade and it lacked the air of absolute vacancy.

Since he wasn't dead, she had absolutely no problem with checking out his room; of course that and the fact that he was a jerk. To justify her actions, she decided that she was doing this to… help her find clues to his whereabouts. Which wasn't entirely true, but she couldn't cure her curiosity, it was a disease. Kind of like him.

The real reason that Sakura was looking in Sasuke room, which she considered completely unethical, was that she hoped to find a reason to not care. Not care about him, or the pain he put her through every day.

The first thing she looked at were the walls. She noticed that there was one picture hanging on the walls. At first glance, she thought it was Sasuke, but then she had to second-guess that, since she didn't think that he was conceited enough to hang a picture of himself on the wall to adore or anything like that.

After studying it for a moment, she realized that it had to be his brother, Itachi. He probably kept it there to remind himself of his hatred every night before he went to sleep, to keep himself driven on the dark, selfish path he chose.

Sakura expected to feel hatred towards this man, now seeing his face. She had seen him before, but it was only some form of a clone that they had battled. Instead of abhorring the man, she became curious.

His face was unsmiling and empty. However, it seemed that hidden behind the blank expression there was a dark abyss of sadness and moreover—loneliness. He probably couldn't understand why he felt so alone when he had a family that adored him and received so much admiration.

That was it. He was it. Itachi Uchiha was the one she would draw. He knew how she felt in every aspect. Sure maybe their situations differed, but the feelings were the same.

Immediately, Sakura whipped open her medic pack, pulling out one of two, medium-sized books, opening it up. She quickly realized that she had accidentally grabbed her medical notebook instead of the sketchpad.

"Opps…" Sakura mumbled under her breath as she exchanged the notebook for the sketchpad and took a pencil while she was at it.

As soon as she opened it, she began drawing on the paper. With each new line and shade she made, she instilled more feeling into the drawing. Sakura kept going without pausing, occasionally having to erase a mistake or two.

When she finally completed the drawing, Sakura admired her work. It was truly beautiful, in a sad, cold sort of way. It showed the Itachi she saw in the picture on the wall staring at the dead bodies of his family with an empty stare. However, behind that blank face, there was disbelief and shame. If you examined his onyx eyes closely, you could just barely recognize the gleam in his eyes caused by held back tears. He looked like he wanted to run away and hide.

As she examined her artwork, she suddenly understood why he killed off his entire clan. It was because he knew that the only reason people even gave him a second glance was his strength. Itachi realized that people didn't admire him for being him; they loved his ability and potential. They loved the fact that he was "the pride of the Uchiha clan," but they didn't actually love _him_.

Suddenly, Sakura realized that she was quite tired. She looked out the window and realized that it was late at night. The stars were twinkling brightly and a lonely crescent moon hung high in the night sky.

She dragged herself over to the bed, and plopped down on it, which shook an unhealthy amount of dust into the air. After sneezing multiple times, Sakura laid her head on Sasuke's pillow and immediately fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura woke up to the blaring sound of her alarm clock. She reached out her hand to smash it into pieces, but the more intelligent portions of her brain advised against it, since she would then have to buy yet _another_ alarm clock.

She suddenly recalled last night… where she had fallen asleep… in Sasuke's bed. So why exactly did _her_ alarm go off if she was supposed to be at Sasuke's house where there was no alarm clock?

However she quickly moved onto a new train of though when she remembered the drawing. She sat up and looked over the edge of the bed to if her medic pack was there, since that was where she always put it when she came home.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief when she saw her trustworthy, darling bag. She opened it up and pulled out the first book her hand could grab, hoping that it was the sketchpad. She wanted to admire her work again, after all it was her first drawing, and she had done so well!

She let out a peculiar noise when she realized that she ended up pulling out the medical notebook instead of her sketchbook. Sakura now lifted her medic pack onto the bed so she could rummage through its contents.

After a few minutes of searching thoroughly through her bag with no results, she threw it hard at the opposite wall. Sakura winced when she heard a crack; her mom was going to kill her if she found out.

Sakura only lived with her mom, at the moment. Her mother and father got divorced when she was young. During her childhood, they both got remarried. She used to visit her father every other weekend, however she stopped.

Her mother was a highly optimistic woman that was always praising her daughter. Every now and then Sakura felt like the only reason her mom loved her was because of her successes. She really wondered just how much her mom would love her hadn't she been that great at anything at all.

"Sakura, what was that loud bang?" Sakura's mother yelled, most likely from the kitchen. Sakura walked over to wall, to check for cracks, which she found a lot of.

Sighing tiredly, she shouted back in reply, "I hit my elbow on the wall when I rolled over. Sorry."

She had to figure out something to cover those cracks, or else she would be grounded to the confinements of her room for eternities, or at least until she managed to annihilate her bad temper, which _would_ take eternities.

Then Sakura had a brilliant idea—she could draw something and then put it up on her wall, covering the spot of cracks. Sakura walked over to her desk, pulled out a sheet of non-lined paper that she could draw on and a pencil.

Quickly, Sakura whipped up a drawing of mediocre caliber. She drew the first thing that came to mind, and that happened to be a simple flower, nothing spectacular. Sakura decided to make that flower into a rose. It turned into a black rose with thorns covered in some sort of liquid.

When she was finished, she looked at her work. Sakura decided that it wasn't anything quite phenomenal, but it would suffice. She placed the piece of artwork over the area where the cracks were the most visible and abundant. Once she was finished successfully fastening it over the wall, securing it with tape, Sakura got dressed and ready to take on the upcoming day.

Fresh and clean, she entered the kitchen where her mother was sitting at the table eating her breakfast. Sakura would probably just munch on a bagel suffocated with mounds of wonderfully unhealthy cream cheese.

"How is my precious Head Ninja this morning?" her mother asked cheerily.

"Ecstatic, can't you tell that I am just overflowing with joy?" Sakura replied sarcastically. Her mother sighed heavily as a warning sign that she was about to plunge into yet another long-lived lecture about how she needs to ditch her cynical attitude. Sakura just prepared her breakfast as she tuned out her mother's droning; her mom could be such a termagant sometimes…

Sakura jumped when her mother said loudly, "Are you listening to me? Of course not… Anyways, if you don't want to talk about you're problems that's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of your studying. And you had better drop the bad attitude, it's not my fault that your having problems in your life. But are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Had Sakura wanted to talk about her problems with her mother, she would have already. She just wished that her mother would stop bugging her about it every now and then, even if she knew that her mom did mean well.

Changing the subject, Sakura asked curiously, "Hey mom, do you know what time I got home last night?"

"That's a particularly odd question… But it was really late, I'm not quite sure what time, but I just assumed that you fell asleep studying after your session with Tsunade. I was going to yell at you about it, since it was well past your curfew of 9:00, but I decided to let it slid just this once. Just don't ever do it again," Sakura's mother ordered.

"Sure, thanks…" Sakura responded offhandedly. She was too busy trying to remember walking home. Maybe she did when she was semi-conscious and accidentally left behind her sketchpad.

After cleaning up her mess from breakfast, she ran back to her room to retrieve her medic pack. Once she did that, she muttered a quick good-bye to her mother and was headed on her way to the Uchiha complex.

Moving with amazing speed, in a messy manner due to confusion, she leapt off of the rooftops, one after another. She almost fell a couple times, with all her grace lost; she was entirely consumed by this utter bewilderment.

When Sakura finally arrived at her destination, she entered the same building as she had the day before. She hastily stumbled to what had to be Sasuke's room. Her eyes calculatingly scanned his room, making sure not to miss a singular detail.

She became only more disgruntled when her eyes failed to fall upon her precious sketchbook. Without care, she trampled through his room, searching in his covers, under his pillow, everywhere it could possibly be. Sakura yelled in frustration when she had no results.

She took out her fury on the floor with a power-packed punch. Sakura smashed straight through the floorboards. She didn't understand it, she couldn't figure out where it could possibly be.

Not only was she confused, but also she was beginning to wonder if somebody took it. It may have been nothing more than an accident, but either way, people would begin to ask questions when they saw a drawing of a criminal who murdered his entire family inside.

It was her private—and very personal—space. Nobody should be looking in there, regardless of who they were. She didn't want people to know that she was the creator of that morbid drawing, which anyone who even looked at it could figure out, since her name was boldly printed on the front.

Sakura stopped caring about her darling, leather-bound sketchpad the moment she sensed someone's presence hovering menacingly behind her.

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I want to thank you all for the reviews from last chapter. I apologize for any gramatical and/or spelling errors I have made. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Without faltering, Sakura sent a kick straight behind her, only to hit nothing more than air. This intruder was quite lucky that they were fast enough, since that kick had enough power to topple a three-storey building into a pile of rubble.

She was considerably cranky, seeing as how her day was going, and this person seemed like the perfect target to take her anger out on. Sakura abruptly realized that it didn't have to be an enemy—it could be one of her friends, maybe they had been looking for her.

So she turned to face this person, whomever it was, only to find that nobody was standing there any longer. She quickly caught on that they were playing games with her mind, using their speed to confuse her. Somebody was standing behind her once again; it almost felt like they were breathing down her neck.

"You know, you honestly shouldn't damage other's property. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you though, I'm sure that _he_ would make an exception for _you_," the voice scolded in an almost playful manner.

Sakura didn't understand; was this person referencing Sasuke? If they were, they obviously didn't know Sasuke that well, since that man would most likely only use her temper as another reason to continually insult her.

The more she thought about it, she only found it more ironic. Eventually Sakura chuckled a bit underneath her breath. She was laughing at a combination of his comment and her life.

"All vandalism aside, I came to see you for a reason—it's about your drawing. That drawing was wonderful quality, however very disturbing. More like… wonderfully disturbing," the person commended in a chilling voice.

Impatiently, Sakura replied, "And how could my artwork possibly concern you?" She was mad because she predicted that things would turn out like this. It was so irritating.

With nonpareil skill and an almost divine celerity, Sakura maneuvered herself behind the figure to launch an attack. She sent a punch their direction, only for it to be blocked. So this was a worthy opponent, huh? Sakura was shocked that they could keep up with her, but she would never show it.

Sakura dropped herself to the floor to dodge a flame that was sent her way. Too bad for Sasuke, it looked like his room was getting seriously trashed.

She snatched out some kunai and to sever this person's Achilles tendon while she had the advantage of close proximity. Sakura's plan was foiled, however, when he jumped backwards, into the doorway.

"Don't you dare try to…" she trailed off. Sakura realized that this person hadn't backed into the doorway to escape; rather they wanted to reveal their identity.

The second that she was able to comprehend just exactly _who_ this person was, she nearly fainted from shock. Once she was able to finally regain her senses she began asked herself questions like why in the world did he possess _her_ prized sketchbook? And why was he _here_?

Sakura asked in an astonished voice, "How could you have possibly come across my sketchpad? Why out of all the people in this miserable universe did you have to manage to find it? I have the most awful luck ever…"

"Well you see," they began, "how I received your property is another reason why I have come to visit you, but we can get around to that later… Let's discuss your drawing a bit further, shall we?" She just glared at him in a sinister manner as a reply.

He chuckled darkly, "Come now, at least I deserve to know what drove you to draw such a picture. Don't you think? After all I-"

"Okay, I get it! I get it! You have come here to torture me mentally until you figure out the truth behind my artwork. Do you honestly want to know what I was thinking when I drew such a despicable thing?" Sakura shouted at the man, still stunned that she was truly seeing him, then calming down and finishing, "I thought that I understood how that boy on the wall felt when that picture was taken of him. No, I was sure I understood. So I put our feelings on the paper, I meshed my similar emotions with his as I drew that morbid piece of artwork. I felt the same as the man despised by so many; I felt the same as Itachi Uchiha."

Sakura lifted herself from her crouching position on the floor and continued, "Yes, I actually empathized with the man abhorred by everyone, probably even some of the Akatsuki members hate him with a fiery passion. Who could possibly blame all of those who hate him, though? After all, he was the one who heartlessly turned this very place into an abattoir. And yet… I can't hate him. I can't hate him for his sins; I am incapable of judging him on an objective level. All his sinful deeds aside, I understand him; why he committed such crimes. I feel on the same level of understanding, and furthermore I empathize with his loneliness."

The man just stood there, lacking the words he wished to say. Or perhaps he felt that silence said it all. Sakura didn't mind the silence, instead taking comfort in its tranquility.

The seconds ticked by, but to them time became nonexistent as they became lost in the intensity of their personal thoughts. She continued to ask herself millions of questions, however, there was a new one among them; she began to think that she was wrong in believing that she understood Itachi. Perhaps he was nothing more than a man with a sick, twisted mind that actually enjoyed every second he tormented his brother and slaughtered his family. Maybe he enjoyed it so much that he wished that he could do it all over again.

"Well, are you going to say something? Was I right? Or are you going to continue to ignore my existence?" Sakura asked impatiently, sick of asking herself questions when she had no answers.

Finally, a reaction; he reached inside of his cloak and pulled out what appeared to be her sketchbook. With his sharingan turned on, he flipped it open, and seemly studied her drawing. It looked as though he had been trying to memorize its every detail. Then, he unexpectedly reached out the arm he was holding it with, as if gesturing her to take it.

As Sakura hesitantly reached to take it, she said, "Well, aren't you going to at least tell me if I was right, Itachi Uchiha?"

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Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it! The next chapter will be posted in a week (maximum.) Thank you for all the reviews as well! If you have any constructive criticism or opinions to offer, please do so. : )

-Selah


	4. Chapter 4

"Maybe I will someday, but currently more important matters stand unresolved," Itachi answered.

Sakura was kind of confused, but hoped that this would lead to the satisfactory answers of some of her questions. She was far too curious for her own well being, especially considering the person she was dealing with.

Itachi said, "I'm sure that you are wondering why I had your sketchpad in the first place. Your answer—it was a mistake made by my partner on our mission."

"What exactly was your mission if it led your partner to accidentally snatching my sketchpad?" Sakura asked in a lethal voice, internally seething. She was mad because if they took her sketchbook, that meant that they were attempting to steal something else from her, and taking the sketchpad was nothing more than a mere mix-up with whatever possession of hers they _really_ wanted.

Itachi smirked a bit before responding, "Don't worry, I was getting there… What we actually wanted was your medical-"

"My medical notebook. That's it, isn't it? That's what you were after," Sakura finished for him.

Her immediate reaction was to reach to her waist, checking the security of her medical pack. She let out a cry of despair when she felt that it was freely open, instead of tightly closed as she normally carried it.

He reached inside of his traditional Akatsuki cloak and pulled out a book that looked quite similar to her sketchpad, in fact they were almost identical. The only thing that convinced her otherwise was that she knew she was holding that in her hand, while he was holding her precious medical notebook in his. The more she realized that they looked alike, the more she understood how easy it would be for less-than-intelligent Kisame to mix them up.

"Now that I have incredible leverage, I would like to propose a deal," Itachi said smugly.

Not wasting a moment, Sakura took her speed to the greatest intensity she possibly could, and poised herself behind him while aiming two kunai to his temples, ready to take his life, if necessary. She knew how many secrets that notebook held. After all, those notes came from books in the library where no one was allowed; and nobody was allowed in there for a reason.

She hated the idea of killing, which is why she had avoided it with all of her might up until that point. Then again, she had to consider just exactly whom she was dealing with. After all, this was Itachi Uchiha, not some low-class flunky who couldn't even make it through the academy to save his life. Still, regardless of the threat this man posed, she still hated the idea of having someone's blood permanently stained on her hands.

Sakura demonically whispered in his ear, "I wonder, who do you think has the leverage now?" To emphasis her point, she barely pierced the skin with her kunai, just enough to draw a droplet of blood.

To her surprise, the only reply she received was his low chuckling. He found his current predicament funny?

"Well Sakura, I'm not so sure that you understand me as much as you say you do, if you think that this would actually scare me. I _almost_ believed that one solitary person on this polluted, infested earth actually understood me. Yet now, here we are, and you think that the idea of death scares me… That must be a joke. This is what I pray for every night," Itachi stated harshly.

Sakura realized that she had quickly forgotten the person she was dealing with. This person was not average, at all. He feared nothing, and that included the mystery of death, and the agony of pain. She had forgotten that she was dealing with a person like herself, not your typical human that uselessly cowers at sheer the idea of death and pain.

"Ah, please do forgive me, I had so easily forgotten that I was working with a person akin to myself," Sakura amended, withdrawing her kunai, then continuing, "Anyways, I'll listen to your proposition, but if I don't like it, and we can't work it out, I won't hesitate to take my darling notebook by force."

Itachi turned around to face her and then said, "Good. Now then, here is my proposition—if I return this to you, you must work with Akatsuki on our mission. After that, you are free to leave, with your medical notebook, and to never be bothered by us again." At this, Sakura burst out into a fit of laughter, not even bothering to hold back or attempt to cover it up. When he just shot her an irritated look, she realized that he wasn't joking at all.

"And here I was, thinking that the Akatsuki were a group of powerful, brilliant ninja, not just a crowd of power-junkies with no credible intelligence whatsoever. You must lack a developed brain to believe that I would accept an offer as ridiculous as that.

For starters, the only thing I would get from you is my medical notebook back, which you _stole_ from me. Honestly though, why bother helping criminals for I notebook that I could at least battle for? Plus, the fact that you need a highly-skilled medic means that you are most likely on the verge of launching a full-out attack, an attack where even your _fearless leader_ is worried about the results.

No, no. If you need me that badly, you'll have to give me something far better than that. Something more like agreeing to never bother, attempt to harm, kill, or remove the demon from Naruto's body ever again. That and give me Sasuke's location, since I'm sure that his loving older brother has been keeping tabs on him.

It is also important to me that this battle will hurt Konoha in no way, shape, or form. Since if it does, I'll be sure to person torture your worshipped leader to the death, where he will be forced to endure only more pain for the heinous crimes he has committed by the judgment of whatever higher power exists. After I've sent him to the reaper, the rest of that sick, twisted organization will be next.

So, combine all my terms with your previous bargain, and you have a deal," Sakura finally finished. She knew that her lecture was quite menacing, and that was as she had intended. Sakura purposely used her status as a femme fatale to her advantage.

She knew that if he hadn't threatened death if she didn't agree, that meant they needed her help, and they needed it _bad_. The only thing she was nervous about was whom they would be attacking if they needed her assistance this terribly.

Sakura stuck her hand out, so he could shake it if he accepted.

Itachi reached out his hand, but before he actually shook her he warned, "When you agree, the terms may alter, but that would only be due to whatever you desire or how long you plan to carry this out. If you forfeit at any point, our part of the agreement will also be withdrawn."

After this, they looked each other intently in the eye and roughly shook hands.

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Hi! A huge thank you to all the wonderful reviewers! An important note: I am moving so it is hard to update, and I might actually have no access to the computer for a few days, so please be patient with me. Besides that, please dont be mad at me for making for of Kisame a bit this chapter. I love him, and I show my ultra-luffiness through heartfelt insults : P

Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and continue reading!

-Selah


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright, we will meet at the gates in precisely one hour, " Itachi instructed. Sakura curtly nodded, signaling that she would be there.

* * *

Securing her pack, which continued to lack her medical notebook, but with her sketchpad restored to its proper place, she was out the door, and that whole, haunted Uchiha complex altogether.

Since she had an hour before she temporarily joined the Akatsuki, so she was going to make sure to take advantage of it by saying good-bye to people… However, it's not like she would be gone too long, so she would probably just say goodbye to Naruto. Tsunade would know that she was gone when Sakura wouldn't show up for their training session.

Of course, before she bid Naruto farewell for the time being, she had to pack a few belongings. Maybe two outfits, and some food in case it was a long trip to wherever the Akatsuki base was. That was most likely all she would bring; that and her prized picture of traditional Team Seven.

And so her first stop was home. Luckily for her, her mother was till at work. So Sakura raced to her room, took a bag from her closet, put some clothes inside, a toothbrush with toothpaste (she didn't know they had that necessities, after all, it was being run by men,) a brush, and grabbed some food from the kitchen.

Before she took her leave, she checked the clock on the wall to see how much time she had left—she had approximately 25 minutes before she had to meet him at the gate. It was kind of weird that she was meeting him, the enemy, and helping him out; but it benefited her and Konoha in many ways. On the way to their destination, she would bother him for answers to her questions, hopefully she wouldn't make him annoyed enough to call the deal off.

With a note of the time, Sakura threw on a black, completely unsuspicious, cloak and darted off to the one place where she was sure to find Naruto—at Ichiraku's, the ramen restaurant. It was a well known fact that Naruto spent a portion of his life on one of those stools at that stand, slurping his ramen, one bowl after another, with a joyous expression on his whiskered face.

When she arrived there, Sakura was unsurprised to see him sitting comfortably on his usual stool, devouring what appeared to be several bowls of ramen at once. He had impressive talents when it came to eating, fashion however, came later in life. His new attire happened to be a bit better, but the real improvement had yet to come.

"Hey, Naruto, could you stop eating for a few minutes, I really need to talk to you in private," Sakura shouted loudly. She startled Naruto so much that he began to choke on all of the ramen he had been gorging. He had probably about two bowls worth of ramen lodged in his throat.

Sakura immediately rushed over to his side to clear his throat so that he could receive oxygen. Molding her chakra around the massive entanglement of noodles, as he continued to flap his arms around insanely and making strange grunting/attempted-inhalation noises, Sakura finally freed the ramen from Naruto's constricting esophagus and dropped on the ground, slightly disgusted.

In a raspy, cracking voice, Naruto groaned, "No, what a waste of wonderful ramen!" At this, Sakura simply rolled her eyes, ignoring his over-dramatization.

"Naruto, since you shovel way too much food into your mouth at once, you've wasted time! I have to talk to you, and I only have eight minutes. Please, I'm begging you, please, take a walk with me or something. This is really important," Sakura pleaded, becoming worried that she would run out of time before she got to fully say farewell to her best friend.

Realizing that something had to be wrong, Naruto look her in the eye with a concerned expression on his face, and then asked, "Sakura, is everything alright? You seem awfully worried about something… And you're wearing a black cloak… I'll pay my bill, then we can go for a walk to talk about whatever's on your mind, how about that?"

Sakura relaxed a bit, then smiled and nodded in agreement. Naruto place his money due on the counter, and then they began to walk down the nearly empty street together. She cleverly began walking in the direction of the village gates.

"Naruto, sorry for being so demanding, but this is really important. I came to tell you… tell you that… I might not be around for a while. It shouldn't be too long, but I wasn't given a time frame, so I can't necessarily tell you. This… let's call it a… mission, is beneficial to our hunt for Sasuke and your personal well-being. Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing it. However, I didn't want to leave on this… mission without saying goodbye," Sakura said sorrowfully, looking up to see the village gate, "And well, here we are. I've got to go now. But don't worry, I'll be fine, and it's not like this is goodbye forever, or anything like that, it's just for the length of the… mission."

She hated lying to her best friend, and she wasn't very good at it either. Yet, Sakura knew that if she told Naruto, or anyone else for that matter, just exactly where she was going, they would disrupt her plans, and destroy her opportunity to not only have Naruto permanently protected, but to find Sasuke. And perhaps get a few answers to her questions in between.

Naruto shook his head and said, "No Sakura, you have to stay. I have a bad feeling about this. You're life is worth much more than Sasuke's whereabouts and my protection. Please stay, whatever you are doing, it's not going to go smoothly. I just feel nervous about it. I'll yell at Tsunade, surely I could go in your place, or somebody else. Just stay."

Now Sakura was becoming impatient, she despised how Naruto had the tendency to treat her like a helpless child. She could be going on a D-ranked mission, and he would protest that it was too dangerous; the cat that she might have to catch could claw her eyes out. Goodness forbid that she does something of _real_ importance.

"No, Naruto, this was my decision, and my decision alone. There will be no talking me out of this and Tsunade couldn't switch up the members of this mission if she tried. I'm sorry Naruto, but this is something that I have to do. It won't be forever, and I can hold my own more than you may think. Anyways, I'll be back, until then, goodbye," Sakura said as she walked right out of the village, one crystalline tear escaping down her face, only to fall to the ground.

From behind her, she could hear Naruto's shouts of protest, calling to her, pleading for her not to leave. He was probably afraid to lose another friend, since he could tell that whatever she got herself into was serious.

Sakura saw Itachi behind a tree, and nodded as a signal that they should head off.

As they ran Sakura couldn't help but think of how everyone would react if they found out that she was helping their enemy—the infamously despised Akatsuki. Would they hate her as much as they loathed the Akatsuki, regardless of her reasons and excuses?

More important than anyone else's decisions and reactions—would she come to hate… herself?

* * *

Yo! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Anyhoo, me and my mom moved into our new house yesterday : D Now there are weeks of unpacking to come... And then, next Saturday I leave for my cruise (which will be a week.) June 23rd was my... **_BIRTHDAY_**!!! Don't worry, it wasn't happy or fun, it was entirely down and dull like every other year. I wanted SO badly to update on my birthday, but I had no computer to even think about doing that on. So, pretty soon, there might be a long wait for another chapter. Sorry. However, I will try my hardest to update on the Friday before we leave. Thank everyone for reading and for all of the reviews. I apologize for any errors I have made.

-Selah


	6. Chapter 6

They ran in silence, their footsteps echoing in unison as they pounced from one tree branch onto the next. Their mighty speed was supreme to even some of the most elite ninja.

All she could do was ask herself if she was truly doing the right thing. For all she knew, and she sadly hadn't considered at the time, was they could be attacking an ally of Konoha. They could order her to do something like assassinate the Kazekage.

Granted, she didn't know Gaara well, but Sakura was well aware of how devastated Naruto was when he died once by the hand of an Akatsuki member, her best friend shouldn't have to go through such a miserable experience again; at least not if she could stop it.

Sick of asking herself these questions, when she knew that she didn't have the answer, Sakura asked timidly, "Umm… I was wondering… What exactly does this mission that I'm helping you out with entail?"

_Thud_._ Thud_._ Thud_. Silence.

They both stopped running, and she patiently awaited his reply.

"That mission, is something we no longer need to worry about," Itachi informed her in a haunting voice. Sakura tried desperately to read his expression, however it was hidden in the shade of the forest.

Simultaneously, they both darted off again, their feet pounding the trees below them as they went. Once _again_, she was back to asking herself only more questions that _she_ had absolutely no answers too.

Sakura rolled her eyes and asked in a sarcastic voice, "Do you enjoy being deliberately discreet with your replies?" She didn't turn to see his reaction, however she guessed that he most likely gave her a killer glare with his mangekyo turned on.

That might work on some people, but it didn't have any effect on her. After all, Kakashi had something similar, as well as Sasuke. Instead of instilling fear into the very marrow of her bones, it had that opposite effect—it was actually a bit comforting, reminding her of people she held dearly in her heart.

"So, I'll use this… _stroll_… of ours as a time to grill you for answers to the questions that have been bothering for hours now," Sakura said in an evil, plotting manner.

Itachi just stopped running, and glared at her with all of the eye-power he could muster.

Sakura laughed sheepishly, "Okay, maybe Itachi Uchiha isn't grilling material. How about interrogate? I always thought it would be really awesome to do that. Playing mind games with someone does sound like a rush of adrenaline. Alright, Itachi Uchiha, at what time did your partner, Kisame Hoshigaki, mistake my sketchpad for my medical notebook, and what exactly were you doing in the meantime?"

"What _exactly_ made you think that I had to answer these questions? And what makes you think that I would tell the truth, after all I'm from the Akatsuki," Itachi pointed out mockingly, continuing to cleverly evade her questions.

She had to threaten him with something that he cared about, something important. Not killing him, he had no family to threaten about, he probably wouldn't really care too much about that Hoshigaki if he died… Of course, she wouldn't really kill anyone, but it's not like he would know that.

Suddenly, Sakura had a brilliant idea. Itachi was on a mission, that was a key to the success of an important, and slightly risky mission. However, he would completely fail if the main component, Sakura Haruno, ceased to exist.

"Well now, let's see. Just how important is this mission? Maybe I'm not _that_ necessary… Surely it could go on without me," Sakura asked dangerously as she stopped running and held a kunai to her own throat, making sure her eyes never left his face. She wanted to be sure to see his reaction.

She took note of how his breath just barely caught in his throat and his face faltered, even if it was no more than a mere matter of nanoseconds. He intently looked her in the eye, most likely trying to see if she would truly do it. And she would. Sakura may have morals against killing others, but she had no issues with taking her own life. Sure, she had a few farewells to say before she made her way onto the unknown, but as a ninja, she had to be ready for it at any point in her life. Maybe some would look down upon it as a waste of life and a selfish mistake, but it was her own choice to take this risk; no one could intervene with his or her personal opinions.

Sighing slightly, Itachi responded, "You're annoying."

This simple statement shocked Sakura so much that she crippled forward, like she was punched in the stomach, almost accidentally slitting her own throat on the way. The remaining crumbs of her rotting heart blew away with those painfully reminiscent words in the wind.

Sakura whispered quietly, "Is that all that you men from the Uchiha clan can say? When you said it, for a moment I was almost sure that Sasuke was standing in front of me, once again reprimanding me for being _annoying_. The only thing almighty about the Uchiha clan is just how despicable your personalities are… Someday both you and your brother will suffer miserably for your insults. Yet and still, neither of you will probably regret it. If anything, you and Sasuke are the annoying people."

It made her so angry, just how nonchalantly they constantly put her down. She was seething as memory after memory of those harsh words repeating in her mind. To release some of her pent-up fury, Sakura walked over to a tree and ripped it harshly out of the ground, only to smash it forcefully into other trees in the surrounding forest.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, since destroying the environment wasn't doing much to cool of f her temper. Sakura hadn't been this mad in a long time. In fact, she wasn't sure if she had ever been this angry in her entire life.

"I'm livid Itachi. In case you haven't figured it out yet, when that happens, it's an excellent idea to run really fast. And if you don't, I won't have any regret gouging your precious eyes out of your face, other than the fact that it probably would look disgusting. However, I hope you get the point," Sakura hissed.

He wisely took her advice, and darted off swiftly as more trees in the surrounding perimeter continued to fall helplessly to her relentless wrath. Sakura uprooted tree after tree, as the angry adrenaline pulsed through her veins.

Once she had finally let loose enough anger to calm down, she sat down while breathing deeply in the center of what appeared to be a disaster zone of fallen trees. Still, those overused words persistently reverberated inside her mind.

Maybe if she became a clone of their heartless demeanor she wouldn't be considered so "annoying" anymore. What, did they expect the whole world to be based on their cold, ruthless ideas and to exist without emotion? If so, their demands would never be met.

However, as she lifted herself from the ground, she couldn't help but to wonder in the back of her mind how things would be different if she acted more like a proper, controlled, and reserved Uchiha replica.

With this idea in mind, Sakura decided from that point on, until she changed her mind, she wouldn't speak a single word; at least not to people with the surname Uchiha. She wanted to see how much he would like it when he didn't get answers to his questions. Sakura wanted to see if she was still so _annoying_ when she didn't talk at all.

Sighing, she shook her head as she reminded herself that she wasn't a little child anymore, so she had absolutely no excuse to be acting so immaturely. She decided to ditch the juvenile idea and just move on. That was when she realized what the true problem was—Sakura wanted to know if it wasn't her voice that was so annoying, but rather her _existence_.

* * *

Whew. I got to update! Thank you all for reading! Also, thank you to all of the wonderful reviewers! Well, I leave for my cruise tomorrow.**_ I will not be able to update for at least a week. It may take longer than that._** I am sincerely sorry for any errors I have made, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!

-Selah


	7. Chapter 7

**_WARNING:_**

This chapter, along with future chapters, may contain spoilers for anyone that is not up to date with the Japanese manga. If you are not up to date, and would like to be up with the current manga situation, I can send you the site I use. You have been warned. Though, honestly, it's nothing too intense. The spoiler in this chapter isn't really intense, so if you don't mind a tiny bit being spoiled, then read on.

* * *

After a minute or so, Sakura caught up to Itachi. Instead of asking herself a million questions, she focused on the surrounding environment, and became completely in tune with the nature around her.

The twittering and singing of birds vibrated in her ears as she listened intently to the thumping of their feet when they bounced from one tree branch to the next. She felt the wind from her speed throw back her short, pink hair under behind her while it cooled her face and her body in a comforting, calming manner with her cloak flapping behind her. The fragrance of the chilling pine trees caught her attention as she drew in a soothing breath. However, what her eyes saw were not as consoling as what the rest of her senses received. All she saw was shadows of ever-lingering, grim darkness. The vacancy of the air ahead, the inability to fully see what those shadows held.

With unrivaled serenity and speed, she dropped like a cat to the forest floor. Right where her next footfall would have landed, there was a kunai sticking out of the tree. It appeared that she had chosen the right moment to be in tune with nature and her surroundings.

Itachi landed gracefully on the ground next to her, having dodged whatever attack was sent his direction. He must have also sensed the sudden surprise.

Sakura swiftly jumped up from her army-crawling stance on the ground. They were being ambushed by somebody, most likely someone who didn't appreciate the temporary alliance of Sakura Haruno and the Akatsuki.

"What cowards. People like you make me sick. Attacking from the shadows, concealing yourself with nature instead of fighting fair and square up front. Well, guess what? Two can play at that game," Sakura taunted. Quickly, she located the position of what seemed to be the strongest ninja in their group, and swiftly maneuvered herself in the tree behind them.

Right behind the cloaked ninja's ear, she whispered with a tune similar to a tintinnabulation, "You lose."

She placed a kunai directly over this person's jugular, as a threat. Hopefully when the other members saw that their leader wasn't capable of fighting due to their current predicament, they would back off and most likely retreat.

Suddenly, Sakura felt another presence behind her. Without hesitation, she dodged the oncoming attack by dropping to the forest floor once again; except for this time, she brought her hostage with her.

Sakura made sure to keep the dagger placed on her captive's throat, and using the other arm to hold the person firmly in place. Oddly enough, it seemed as though they weren't struggling one bit.

A bit of a rumbling sound came from her hostage. At first she was so shocked that she couldn't place it, thinking that it was a strange sort of kekkei genkai. Soon enough, she realized that this person was laughing. Or rather, chuckling darkly like some sort of fearless, self-designated god.

"I don't believe that you are the one I'm here for. I think that you might actually surpass that… _thing's_ skill. However, if you get in my way, I will be forced to kill you. So if you would be so kind and remove your kunai from my throat before you find one _in_ yours," the hostage threatened chillingly. The voice was strikingly familiar.

Sakura threw her captive harshly to the ground and spat, "You sound just like _him_. I guess that Itachi has more than one person out for his blood. Anyways, go ahead, I don't give jack if you dismember the man, but I do have some questions I need him to answer before he completely kicks the bucket. So as a favor, I suggest that you keep him, at minimum, on the brink of death."

"Unlucky for you—I don't do favors; for anyone. So, if you want him alive, and you plan on stopping me, then you are in my way. As I told you before, if you block my path, I will be forced to annihilate you. Don't worry, you won't feel the pain for too long," the person sneered. Whoever this was, they seemed very confident in their abilities.

The cloaked being whirled the opposite direction and said, "Suigetsu, have fun while I hunt my prey, but try not to kill him."

Now this little comment, really irritated Sakura; she was so annoyed, that she completely disregarded this new person named Suigetsu. It wasn't even the comment that angered her, it was one, singular word. This person called her a male by referring to her as _him_. She hated how people had the automatic tendency to call anyone strong a man.

"Excuse you. Next time rather than referring to me as _him_, try _her_," Sakura corrected fiercely while removing her black cloak. She let it slip out of her hand and it gently floated to the forest floor.

The person replied smugly, "Just as _annoying_ as ever, Sakura."

Surely enough, Sakura immediately identified the person who was standing in front of her. His nonpareil ego should have given away his identity long before that very phrase had been used, however she thought that he would be the last one she would have attacking her in the wilderness.

That adjective that people kept using to describe her was becoming quite trite and she was tired of hearing the same word repeated several times each day in reference to her being. It was well-beyond irritating. The magical nostalgia of it was wearing off.

Sakura replied while rolling her eyes, "Honestly, you really need to come up with a new catch-phrase, Sasuke."

* * *

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, however I typed most of it yesterday when I got home from the airport, and then I typed the rest of it today. My flight was delayed I we had to run really fast to catch our next one. My asthma was having a party. The excitement of not carrying around my inhaler was killing me, in the most literal sense possible. Guess what? I used my FAVORITE word this chapter!! Woot woot for the word tintinnabulation! And yay for Edgar Allen Poe, since he was the person that added it to my vocabulary.

Anyways, I'm dead tired. Nighty-night Vana White.

-Selah

P.S. For those of you who don't understand that last phrase, watch some Wheel of Fortune (only the BEST SHOW EVER!)


	8. Chapter 8

The previous chapter's warning still stands.

* * *

Sakura made herself pay no attention to his identity, but rather focus on his intentions; at least for the moment. Once her work was done with the Akatsuki, and they helped her track him down, things would probably be different. However, he proved that portion of bonus most likely to be worthless, since they would probably say that she did find him, and that they had already fulfilled that bit of the bargain given that he was standing directly in front of her.

Sighing deeply, Sakura replied tiredly, "It seems that you haven't changed much either. Still driven madly on the selfish path of bloody revenge. Oh, and your ego certainly hasn't died down one bit, either. You really think that I would let you kill me? Maybe if I was twelve again I would. But, newsflash, it's been _two and a half years_. And it seems to me that you're that only one of us that hasn't grown up."

Immediately his sharingan flickered on and he moved into an offense stance, with his kusanagi ready in his right hand. His chakra flared, but Sakura was hardly alarmed. As a medic she knew lots of things, one of them being that humans act on pure instinct when they become angry, losing all logic and strategy; somewhat similar to her reaction to Itachi's statement earlier that same day.

"I take back what I said earlier, Suigetsu, this has become more… _personal_ now. Wherever Itachi is, Kisame and his sword should be nearby. Go entertain yourself with that matter. Tell Karin and Juugo to hold off Itachi from fleeing. He can wait until I finish this," Sasuke ordered calmly.

As Suigetsu disappeared, in a blur of black Itachi appeared next to Sakura. She had actually completely forgotten about him. Now she was wondering what he was doing the whole time.

Sakura rolled her eyes and recalled aloud in a sarcastic voice, "You're just like your little brother here. He too had a tendency to play hero," she laughed a little then continued, "It always used to make Naruto so jealous and mad."

"Oh dear Sakura, you shouldn't get nostalgic with Sasuke, didn't you know, he 'severed those bonds long ago.' Oh, and Sasuke, guess what, she _is_ annoying. You should have seen her face when I called her that, does it mean something more than I know?" Itachi asked with false innocence. Up until that final comment, Sasuke appeared as though he were debating whom to attack first, knowing that he couldn't take both at once.

However, when Sasuke processed that last question of Itachi's, he glared fiercely at him and sneered, "Itachi, I'm not so sure you should be one to criticize. You are well beyond annoying; you are a revolting waste of life, which I will erase from this earth—today."

"I'll take that as a yes. So, does she hold a special spot in your heart, just like our dear, belated mother and father had? Maybe she would enjoy a taste of the mangekyo, and then you could listen to her screams; I wonder if she'll sound like our mother and aunt when they helplessly shrieked in agony. Sounds like a celebration," Itachi smirked chillingly.

Sakura whipped to face Itachi, only to find that he was no longer there. He was on the other side of her, and he nonchalantly draped his arm over her shoulders. As this all occurred, Sasuke just stood there, seemingly not giving a damn.

Sakura didn't really bother to move from his arm at all. The move she made was stomping her foot on the ground, hard. From the harsh impact, a deep rumbling sounded throughout the air and a violent shaking sent tremors through the earth.

"I don't enjoy the idea of someone toying with my mind with a high-powered jutsu. Sorry, but I'll have to pass up this brilliant opportunity. Have fun avoiding falling into the cracks in the earth. I hope you both land in them, falling in unison to your death," Sakura said while sighing happily, "Now that is something I could take pleasure in."

However, causing an earthquake that would read over ten on the Richter scale had its risks. There was always the possibility that she would be the one to fall in the fractures of the earth's surface. Luckily, she had a great amount of experience in avoiding them.

As she watched their reactions, a loud crunch sounded throughout the air. With unexpected speed, the earth ripped apart below Sasuke's feet and he immediately disappeared in the rift. Only seconds later did he shoot back out of the earth in a complete cursed-seal transformation, flying in the air above them.

She hadn't ever seen the full-out cursed-seal transformation. Sakura actually thought that it made him somewhat disgusting looking. His wings looked similar to webbed hands with claws and he had an odd, cross-shaped marking on his face.

Sakura chuckled, "Does that form reveal your true personality? The appearance of that form and your honest persona are strikingly similar—hideous much?" She was being a cruel sadist and taking pleasure in every moment of slowly disintegrating his overblown ego bit by bit.

He made some hand signs and prepared to attack. Sakura quickly reacted, dodging the attack. She swiftly realized that the attack wasn't even aimed at her, but rather Itachi, whom was standing behind her. Sasuke was most likely ignoring her every word.

"This day, I shall rule judgment over you in this world, Itachi Uchiha. And when you arrive to the next, you will only suffer more for your sins when judgment is handed to you once again, but don't think that I'll be _nearly_ as kind as the reaper," Sasuke hissed hatefully.

In a blur of black and red, blood sprayed across the gray sky, and there was four thuds of objects landing on the ground as a scream echoed in Sakura's eardrums. She processed that two thuds were people, and the other two were… mutilated objects that looked similar to Sasuke's wings. No, they were Sasuke's wings.

Once again, their battle became nothing more than hazy visions of movement so fast that the brain could not comprehend it promptly enough to see what was going on; at least for the average person. Since she was used to moving that fast, and a bit faster when she needed to, Sakura didn't have too many difficulties.

Uninterested in their feud, she let her mind wander, but stayed alert enough that she would notice if Itachi decided to try to pull a tsukuyomi on her or Sasuke decided to spit a few fireballs her way. Soon enough, it returned to the night that Sasuke became a traitor to Konoha. Not only did he betray Konoha, but also he betrayed Team 7.

All Sakura did was weep, powerlessly, as she begged for him to stay in Konoha. She actually even attempted to bribe him by telling him that she would make him happy every day or that she would even help him with his revenge when the time came. Yet, there she was, on the ground, watching Sasuke and Itachi go at it, and on the verge of laughing at him, rather than helping whatsoever.

Sakura said wistfully under her breath, "It seems that times change, as do people. Sorry Sasuke, but I guess I lied."

* * *

The end of yet another chapter. Whew. I'm tired. Actually that's only because I had to wake up at 8 in the morning, but regardless...

Thank you for all the reviews, and thank you for reading! I hoped that you all enjoyed the chapter! Please do forgive me for any errors I have made. Constructive criticism will be happily accepted.

I must say, I am SO excited about the upcoming chapters! And slightly nervous about people's reaction to what is going to happen, after all, I have NEVER seen a story even similar to this. I'm very excited, but very nervous...

-Selah


	9. Chapter 9

The warning continues to stand.

* * *

Sakura launched herself off of the ground and in between the two of their bodies, then jumping in the air and resourcefully using one leg to kick each person in the opposite direction. At the moment that her feet made contact with their chests, there was a sick crunching noise and blood emitted from a gaping mouth. Luckily for Itachi he managed to cross his forearms in front of his chest in order to block her powerful kick. Regardless, he was still quite affected. They both soared through the air until their backs collided with the trunk or branch of a tree.

"Would you both stop now? Do this later or something. I don't have patience for this! You're both so… so… infuriating! Kill each other later!" Sakura shouted furiously, then said impatiently, "No. Go ahead and slaughter each other, I don't give jack! I'll find the hideout myself!"

She was ready to run off aimlessly, when she sensed the presence of three new ninja. One seemed to be the Suigetsu that Sasuke had been talking to earlier. The other two were new people that she couldn't recognize. She would have to be on her guard, since she didn't know how strong they were and something told her that they weren't there to have tea while chatting about the latest methods of annihilating people on missions.

One of them, whom was presumably a girl said shrilly, "No one talks to Sasuke that way and lives to tell someone about it!" She had a pouty look on her face and an air of snobbish egotism.

At the girl's comment, Sakura just laughed. The laughs that she emitted were harsh and lacked true happiness or glee. This only made the girl angrier, which entertained Sakura more as the girl stomped her feet and clenched her fists at her sides. Her childish behavior only further proved to Sakura this worthless being's insufferably awful personality. Each of Sakura's mocking, faux-laughs resounded eerily throughout the air as the girl became more infuriated with each passing second.

Sakura had meant for those laughs to sound true and from the heart, however, she had long ago forgotten how to do such things; she couldn't remember how to even make her fake laughs sound real.

Using her laughs, she wanted to force the ugly termagant's anger soar to unexpectedly high levels. With enough observation of Sasuke, she learned that what they hated the most was being laughed at or underrated. So, just to get the girl even angrier than she was, Sakura continued to let out one cold laugh after another. In a way, she was picking a fight. Two minutes after meeting the girl and Sakura already hated her cocky guts.

"The name is Karin. And you had better remember it, since this is the girl who's going to make you pay—pay with your life. You consider us, the prestigious 'Snake' nothing more than a joke? Then I guess that you just don't know what's good for you. Sasuke banded us together for a reason—and that is our unbeatable and unusual strengths," Karin sneered as she stepped into an "all-powerful" pose. She held no hesitation in displaying her self-admiration.

Sakura cut off her heartless chuckling-fit and put on a falsely frightened face. She used both of her hands to cover her mouth in fear. However, only a few seconds later, she removed those hands to reveal a demonically, sadistic smirk. There was no light in her brilliantly emerald eyes; darkness had taken over.

"Right… anyways… The name is Sakura. And you had better remember it, since this is the girl who's going to rub your face in the dirt, and laugh every second of it. You consider me, the prestigious 'Sakura' nothing more than a joke? Then I guess you just don't know what's good for you. Akatsuki summoned me for a reason—and that is for my unbeatable and unusual strengths," Sakura replied derisively, then continued, "Honestly though, if it's strength that we're comparing, we could settle this with a simple arm-wrestling contest. Though I would have to caution you against such things and suggest that you simply forfeit; after all, I can't guarantee that I wouldn't accidentally, or not so accidentally, rip your arm right off of your torso. We wouldn't want that, now would we?"

Karin stood there, with a slightly repulsed expression. She instinctively reached over with her left hand and rubbed her right arm comfortingly. It appeared that she was all talk and nothing more.

Sakura rolled her eyes and then said, "Anyways. I've never even heard of this 'Snake' stuff before, and the only snakes that creep me out are the one's that come out of Orochimaru's mouth; since that is disgusting. Talk about a bad, and extremely strange, case of stomach worms…

But, honestly, your ego might just excel your precious Sasuke's. Talk about needing to calm down… You're acting just like me. Too bad that was the past me, the one that was _twelve_ years old. _Grow up,_ and please, do the world a favor, and _shut up_."

She was ready to full out pummel this prissy brat into the ground when someone landed on the forest floor next to her. Sakura turned to find none other than Itachi, who obviously had something to say.

"Sasuke's little minions—he's almost dead. So if you love your darling leader, I suggest that you go help him out a bit," Itachi suggested nonchalantly, then said to Sakura, "It's time for us to start up again. We are running behind schedule."

Now, Sakura was torn. She was unsure if leaving Sasuke there, near dead due to the combination of the beating he received from both her and Itachi, was the right thing to do. She may have not done much to actually hurt anything other than his ego, but she still felt slightly guilty. Sure, he was a complete jerk, but if all the jerks in the world died, the world would be practically unpopulated.

Sakura was about to say something, or at least object, but Itachi beat her to it when he said while shaking his head, "No, Sakura. Don't worry, he'll be fine."

She hesitated for a moment, inwardly contemplating her next move, until she nodded in agreement, hoping that he was right. After a moment's consideration, she decided that he was definitely right. It was somewhat strange that she was actually trusting the man who killed his own clan, but she found herself doing it regardless of all of the logical objections against it.

As the 'Snake' began to disappear in the distance behind them, Sakura heard a scream that was sure to be Sasuke's, most likely as his mind agonized over the idea of not being strong enough, yet again.

It killed her inside to know that she was walking away from the perfect opportunity to drag him back to Konoha. Maybe then, Naruto would stop faking his happiness and actually live it. Surely Ino would seize the opportunity. Then again, Sai seemed to have taken place in her interests rather than Sasuke. Everyone moved on after he had left. That is, everyone except Naruto and Sakura.

Sakura whispered quietly to herself, "I'm sorry, Naruto… But this is just how it has to be… for now. But when I come back, I'll make sure that I return with information on his future location. Then, we can fulfill your promise, but instead, we'll do it together."

* * *

Yay! I'm already working on the next chapter! Anyways... thank you every for reading! Also, thank you to all of the people who take time out of their lives to review my story. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

In the past, I've received reviews that request for me to make my chapters a bit longer. As I'm sure you've all noticed, my chapters are surprisingly short. I am working on that problem. It's due to my impressively short attention span... (-.-U) Hopefully it will get better soon!

One more important note--I have a reading suggestion for you all! I do believe that you will all enjoy it if you like original plots, ItaSaku, and well-written stories! It is Possession by Hikari Adams. I used to read fanfics all of the time, that was until I began writing. However, I'm reading this one because it's so... enticing! You should read it!

-Selah


	10. Chapter 10

They just kept on running, running in the shadows; silence only inviting more questions to burden her mind. She put on the cloak she had thrown off earlier to reveal her identity once more. She wasn't really sure why she wanted to wear it in the first place, but for some strange reason, it made her feel more secure as she was about to wander into the land of criminals and liars.

"Advice to you, Itachi—never try using your mangekyo sharingan on me, or even think about it, ever again. According to Kakashi, that would take me inside the depths of your mind, and quite honestly, I'm sure that you wouldn't want me there," Sakura warned Itachi dangerously. She guessed that the prospect of her being in his mind didn't frighten him one bit, but she wanted to make her point clear that she wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation, had she been in his mind.

Itachi responded stoically, "I'm surprised that you didn't notice; I had absolutely no intentions of using tsukuyomi on you, I was not going to harm you at all. I'm sure that you can figure out my true intent on your own." This caused her to contemplate what his true objectives were then. It didn't take her long to figure it out.

Sakura finally realized, what she should have understood earlier—of course, his words and goals actually had nothing to do with her, neither did his actions. Itachi was testing Sasuke for something, toying with his mind, and using her as his tool to do so. He was analyzing Sasuke's feelings for Sakura. Too bad there were none to analyze.

"You should know very well, that he doesn't care about me. And if you didn't believe the facts before you took began to toy with him, didn't his lack of reaction confirm the idea that is nothing more than truth?" Sakura asked quietly. She thought it would be more shocking to her to figure out for the final time that Sasuke truly harbored no feelings for her, however, so actually felt quite apathetic to the situation. She was slowly adjusting to life without him and his nasty insults. It may have been gradually but this appeared to be one of the final steps.

Her ears received no answer to her question, not the whole time that she thought to herself, attempting to sort out her feelings. Perhaps he believed that she already knew the truth and he saw no sense in reciting it aloud, nothing too unusual for him.

Sakura felt like she never stopped trying to figure herself out. She was sick of the incoherent thoughts that kept tumbling throughout her mind with no true direction. She was tired of not being able to understand herself, but she knew that only patience could help her to comprehend her true being. And if Sakura couldn't understand herself, who could?

Moving on from his lack of a reply, she inquired, "Is there anything I should know before we get to your base?"

"Nothing that you won't figure out on your own eventually," Itachi answered.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura sardonically responded, "Wow! Thanks for all the wonderful help and advice! It's quite incredible how detailed and specific you are! You're just so phenomenally helpful!"

"Just wait and see, you'll understand when the time comes," Itachi said, unfazed by the sarcasm she previously shot his way.

"There you go again, Itachi! All that assistance, I swear, you're suffocating me!" Sakura said cynically.

Itachi smirked, "Well, your live and learn experience begins now; we're here."

They had finally ceased their running. Sakura saw that they were standing next to a rocky cliff and the rest of the trees from the forest. She automatically assumed that their base would be inside of the cliff, doubting that it could really be elsewhere, unless a whole organization could manage to fit inside the trunk of a tree. Of course, it could have been underground as well.

Itachi formed several hand signs in succession, most likely performing a secret jutsu to allow them entrance to their base. Once he finished, he began walking straight toward the side of the cliff. It appeared that he was ready to walk straight into a wall of sharp rocks. Sakura had to resist the urge to laugh at the sight. She found it funny to watch someone walk coherently in the direction of what appeared to be no more than a wall of rocks, which might hurt quite a bit if he collided with it. Itachi looked like an imbecile with bad eyesight.

Sakura put up a calm façade and stood watching him as she bit her tongue so hard that she tasted metal in her mouth from the flavor of the blood. It reminded her of something Naruto would do when he wasn't paying attention. On occasion, if Naruto was running in the forest and talking at the same time, he would actually crash into a tree branch.

Itachi casually walked straight through the rock, which defied all realistic logic. Then again, in the world of ninja, you couldn't think by such standards. You had to be deeper and more open-minded. To be a ninja you had to expect the unexpected.

She tightened her black cloak around her more comfortingly and made sure that her medic pack was securely fastened at her side. After all, she was going to enter the lair of an organization of _criminals_ and her bag had some very important objects inside. Getting her possessions stolen on the job was simply not an option.

Sakura followed his path and walked directly through the rock. Her instincts braced her muscles, ready to make impact, only to find that there was none. Within a second she found herself in what appeared to be an ordinary cave with torches lining the wall for a light source.

On the left side of the cave, they were walking towards a doorway. The room appeared to be well lit, since light was shining abundantly into the cave.

When they walked through the doorway, they entered a brilliant garden that was lavishly decorated with colorful flowers of all sorts. The grass was the most extraordinarily lush green that she had ever set eyes on in her entire life. The ceiling opened to the sky, so that the sun's rays shined brightly as it nourished the flora.

Then it hit her that the _Akatsuki_, the most infamous criminal organization in the world, had a _garden_. Nevertheless, a very well kept garden. Immediately, an image of Itachi wearing a gardening apron over his usual robe as he held gardening tools with his normal stoic expression appeared in her mind.

Sakura instantaneously bit down on her tongue with all of the might she could muster so that she didn't burst into a fit of insane laughter. She whirled over to face Itachi, just to check out his attire; she wanted to be sure that he didn't decide to don an apron in preparation to plant any additional flowers in the garden. After she made sure that there were no signs of any gardening aprons or tools even near the premises, Sakura let out her held breath.

Clearing her throat as she regained her composure, she inquired, "Um, who exactly takes care of this spectacular garden? This is amazing. I'm starting to wonder what kind of fertilizer you people use…"

"The genius gardener is Zetsu; it's his hobby. His fertilizer is humans, or at least the ones that he refuses to eat," Itachi answered apathetically. When her brain properly processed that he said that Zetsu used humans to fertilize his garden, she choked on her own breath, beginning to regret even asking.

Sakura looked at Itachi incredulously and asked, "Say what?"

"Just follow me, we have a meeting to be at, and due to our former interruption, we might be late," Itachi replied with distaste, ignoring her shock. Sakura could tell how _exultant_ he was about seeing his _darling_ brother again. Not.

She followed him out of the graveyard of a garden into the dimly lit cave once more. Sakura already missed the brightness of the garden, however was quite relieved to know that she was no longer walking on human fertilizer.

As they walked briskly down the cave corridor, their cloaks billowed ominously behind them. The sound of their footsteps eerily ricocheted off of the walls of the cave as they continued to walk in the darkness.

Finally they made a turn into a room. It was a bit brighter than the hallway, which was quite relieving for Sakura's eyes, however it wasn't that much lighter. She quickly noticed that the room had a long table, of which all of the members of the Akatsuki seemed to be sitting around. A few people she didn't recognize, however she observed that two members were missing—Itachi and the Leader. Itachi was standing next to her, but she had no idea just where the Leader could be. She had been looking forward to meeting him too…

All of the eyes in the room were on her, most likely trying to identify the person beneath the cloak. People appeared to be tempted to whisper, but chose to hold their tongues instead. They didn't need to say anything, after all, their eyes managed to ask all the questions without uttering a single word.

If they didn't know who she was, then it was unlikely that they knew why she was even there. Sakura was beginning to become suspicious of Itachi's intentions and true reasons of bringing her here.

Itachi walked to the head of the table and sat down. This confused her a bit, since she assumed that this gesture would insult the Leader, but she trusted Itachi's judgment and brushed it off. Itachi pointed to the right side of the table where there was an empty seat and motioned for her to sit down next to him.

Once Sakura was comfortable in her chair, Itachi announced quietly but clearly, "The meeting has henceforth commenced."

* * *

I'm so proud of myself right now! T.T This chapter is about 500 words longer than usual! You should all thank System of a Down for helping me to focus for that much longer!! I'm so excited and kind of scared about the next chapter. That chapter will tell whether people are going to completely reject my story or accept it. All I ask is that you read to the end of the chapter to decide if you like it or not. It's kind of out of this world, and I can promise that it won't happen in the manga, but that's what I love about fanfics, _you can do anything you want to_!

Anyways, all nervousness aside I want to thank you all for reading. Also, thank you to all of the people that take the time to review!

My suggestion from the previous chapter still stands--go read Possession by Hikari Adams, it's good stuff!

-Selah


	11. Chapter 11

With each second that ticked by, Sakura became only more wary of what was going on. She was beginning to speculate what she had gotten herself involved in. The entire aura of the meeting was so mysterious; and she was starting to wonder about the Leader. Maybe he wasn't there because he was afraid that she would figure out his identity or attempt to assassinate him. However, that sort of cowardice didn't seem fitting for the Leader of the Akatsuki. She cleared her mind, cutting off her distracting train of thought so she could focus all of her attention on the matter at hand.

A blue-skinned man that Sakura knew to be Kisame asked, "Well, Itachi… Are you going to tell us who you've chosen for your self-assigned task?" His voice was gruff, but it didn't seem that he was attempting to be threatening to Itachi, but rather it was just how his voice naturally was.

Now Sakura was ultimately confounded. A self-assigned task… what was he talking about? After a bit of sorting her thoughts out through the confusion, she began to understand things a little bit better. A slew of insults at Itachi started to go on a furious rampage in her mind. Sure a self-assigned mission is still a mission, but she was beginning to feel extremely conned.

"_Self_-assigned?" Sakura growled fiercely under her breath. It took every bit of effort and control that she could mentally muster for her not to lunge at Itachi and start to beat him to nothing more than a pile of broken bones, bruised muscles, and raw skin.

Itachi didn't even bother to glance her way, but Sakura was sure that he had heard her angry utterance. She was also sure that her anger didn't faze him one bit.

"As I promised, this person would be very fitting for the job. Even more fitting for it than me," Itachi said indifferently, as usual.

All the eyes in the room were still on her, and it was beginning to make her feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Take a picture, people! It lasts longer! Isn't there anything more interesting in this room than a previously silent person in a black cloak to stare at?" Sakura snapped impatiently. Everyone continued to stare at her, but instead they seemed a bit shocked at her remark rather than staring at her out of curiosity.

Sakura noticed that there was a person in the room that was actually paying no attention to what was going on, but ratter muttering to themselves. It was a human that had some sort of plant mantle encasing him. One half of his body was white, the other black. Since he appeared to be half-plant, she took a wild guess that he was the gardener, Zetsu.

Itachi barely glanced at the murmuring schizoid, then stated darkly, "Go ahead, Zetsu. I dare you to even try to devour this newcomer." So Zetsu was arguing with himself if he should eat her. The idea of being consumed by someone made her internally cringe. It would be better than ending up as fertilizer though.

In reply Zetsu simply rolled his eyes and quit talking to himself.

Itachi's warning to Zetsu confirmed his identity, which was a bit of a relief for Sakura. She was trying to identify the people in the room, seeing as she was unaware of how long her stay might be, and it could also help her learn of their capabilities for future reference when they annihilate the Akatsuki.

She also knew the location of their hideout, seeing as she was standing in it. However, Sakura disregarded this as something frivolous, since she knew that the second she was back in Konoha, they would most likely be heading over to a new hideout, as to not risk discovery and an ambush.

"Well, everyone, welcome Sakura Haruno," Itachi announced emotionlessly. She took this as a cue to remove her cloak, and gladly did so; it was beginning to become stuffy in the room.

Three members actually stood up out of their chair to protest, the rest sat in their seats, but didn't hesitate to groan in protest. It seemed that nobody was actually happy with her prescence.

Kisame, one of the standing members, demanded, "Itachi, I may respect you a lot, and I trust you more than anyone, but why in the world would you bring the girl who murdered Sasori here for this job? This is insane!"

Itachi's stoic, cold glare quieted everyone in the room and sent them all sitting silently back in their chairs. He may have been silent, but he did not need any words to convey how he felt.

"Kisame, does that mean that you don't trust my judgement?" Itachi inquired emptily. Immediately a look that revealed the contrite, internal remorse of even suggesting such things aloud passed Kisame's face.

Itachi asked with a sere smirk on his face, "Any other objections?" Only silence resounded in the room, and he took that as a no.

For a few moments, they only sat in silence, most likely making an opening for any opinions or ideas. Or perhaps everyone was just at a loss for words, but it seemed to be what Itachi needed, since a resolute expression replaced his usually apathetic face.

Itachi stood up out of his seat, grabbed Sakura's arm to drag her upright with him, and then announced clearly, "Well then everyone, pay your respects to the new Leader of the Akatsuki."

* * *

"Huh?" Sakura asked, mouth gaping widely. She was quite certain that Itachi Uchiha had just declared her the leader of the Akatsuki. This had to be either some sort of a practical joke, or nothing more than a vivid nightmare. Sakura went with the latter, knowing that Itachi was far too serious to even think about pulling an elaborate, and slightly cruel prank, like this.

"If this is nothing more than a frighteningly intricate nightmare, then I'll pinch myself really hard to wake up," Sakura resolved aloud. She lifted her arm in front of her, removed her glove, and pinched herself on the arm as hard as she possibly could.

Sakura rearranged her face in annoyance, "Ouch, that hurt. Maybe one pinch isn't enough to wake me." She continued to pinch herself several times on the arm, as everyone else in the room simply stared dumbfounded at her refusal to accept Itachi's words as reality, instead resorting to convincing herself that it was all an illusion. It may have been an immature reaction, but it was her immediate defensive mechanisms kicking in.

Kisame cleared his throat then asked quietly, "I hate to sound disrespectful, but are you sure that you thought this through long enough?" Sakura had finally stopped pinching herself and sighed, considering it nothing more than a lost cause.

Itachi ignored Kisame, then proclaimed, "We will reassemble here tomorrow at the same time. If you do not show up, I will assume that you have resigned from the Akatsuki. If you are considered a threat for resigning, you shall be killed. This meeting is dismissed."

Sakura stood there, staring blankly into space. At least that was until Itachi reached his arm out to snap his fingers loudly directly in front of her face. At the clear, disturbing sound, Sakura flinched back into reality.

"I don't understand. I thought that you alone were confusing, but the words you just recited aloud are far more confounding than any bit of your being is to me.

Me? The Akatsuki leader? What happened to the original one? And if anything, why name me, the annoying Sakura Haruno the new leader of a criminal organization? Do I come off as a criminal, a killer? If so, you have perceived the wrong impression. I'm definitely not made for a job like this.

What would make you think that I would possibly even stay, or if I did, not bring this organization to ultimate ruin? You don't know the last thing about me, and yet you choose me to do this. I just don't understand," Sakura said wearily. The wave of stress sent her mind into absolute turmoil, with a follow-up of mental fatigue.

"You don't know the last thing about me, and yet you drew me with all of your heart and soul. Sometimes people work on instinct alone," Itachi explained, then continued, "Also, I knew you would infallibly accept this job, Sakura. After all, the benefits by far outweigh the negative effects. I wonder what most would do if they had a powerful criminal organization under their complete control…"

Sakura's eyes widened as she picked up the hint. In her current position she was able to make the Akatsuki do as she wished, somewhat similar to a puppeteer. Most people would use them for their own selfish desires and gain, but that was not her personality. She had the power to abolish the hunt for the tailed-beasts; she had to power to make them do _anything_. Now the whole idea was actually beginning to make her think strategically of what she could do. She could turn this base organization into something that did good, at least of some sort.

Shaking her head, she pushed the positive points of the job, if she accepted, to the back of her mind. Sakura also had to contemplate the negative. She would be abandoning her village; she would become a criminal, no matter what she decided to do with the organization. It would be unlikely for her to see Naruto, her mother, or any of her other friends for a long time. The next she would ever meet those people would probably be in battle. She would have to raise her blade to those few she held so dearly. And how would Naruto feel, after being deserted by both of the most important people in his life?

Sakura shook her head, understanding that it wouldn't matter how he felt if the Akatsuki got a hold of him and extracted his demon; after all, he'd be dead.

Sakura suddenly remembered something, and then she narrowed her eyes and asked coldly, "Itachi, you failed to tell me when I asked about what happened to the previous Leader of the Akatsuki. Actually, you failed to answer a lot of my questions, but currently that has me concerned the most."

Itachi chuckled darkly and smirked at her inquiry. This only boosted her currently curiosity and she became more anxious to hear his reply.

He responded quietly, still smirking, "Well, I must say, you don't ever seem to be unsuccessful at noticing my evasion of your questions. The Leader is gone, Sakura. He is gone, because I took the liberty of assassinating him, and everyone knows it."

* * *

Dun dun dun... Well, here it is! Practically everyone guessed it in the reviews... Here I was thinking that I'm all sly and everyone knew what was going to happen beforehand: P I'm excited about the next chapter too, I've started typing it and it's kind of cute. Oh, I think that I might do a parody of this book once I'm done writing it. It would be something to entertain myself! I was **_sick _**the yesterday... Bleh. Let's hope it doesn't come back, or else the update will be delayed...

Thank you all that reviewed! So kind! (T.T)

My suggestion still stands! Possession by Hikari Adams is truly phenominal!

Thanks for reading!

-Selah


	12. Chapter 12

Itachi killed the Leader? So for the past few years, Itachi had been working under someone he was actually stronger than? Sakura doubted that Itachi was unaware of his superior strength, and yet he accepted the position of inferiority anyways.

"For several years, you have worked as the subordinate of someone that you _knew_ you were stronger than. Why live a life of servitude when you can be the served? In fact, you just accepted servitude again when you choose me to supersede you. Why would you turn down all of the power and glory you could have for yourself, instead handing it over to another person?" Sakura inquired curiously, then finished, "Why would you kill someone you choose to serve? Then only to replace them with someone else to wait on…"

Itachi shrugged, "I didn't want the position. If I didn't take over, I knew that someone else would, so I did take over temporarily, only to appoint someone else to quickly take my place. I handed the job to someone I knew had no selfish desires to get in the way, and could change the whole meaning of this organization that had no cause to begin with."

Sakura just gaped at him and a blush tinted her cheeks. Itachi thought that she was selfless? The idea of considering herself unselfish made her laugh. Daily, she would end up reprimanding herself for being so selfish. She was selfish when it came to anything—Sasuke, how she treated Naruto, disregarding Ino as a friend because of a crush, and anything else she could think of.

"You don't think I'm selfish? But I'm the childish girl who continually hid behind her teammates during battle, caring more about perfecting her hair rather than her fighting skills. Every day I am constantly reminded that not only am I annoying, but selfish as well. Except, I'm the one telling myself that I'm selfish, rather than hearing the words repeated out of everyone else's mouths. I am the one that is always messing up, and in the end, it's everyone else that pays for those mistakes. Everyone I care about suffers because of _my_ selfish mistakes," Sakura explained.

"Really? You're that terribly greedy? I had no idea. Well then, name one selfish desire you had when I first announced that I wanted you to take over as Leader of the Akatsuki," Itachi ordered calmly as he feigned shock. Itachi may have not been one for expressing true emotions, but Sakura didn't even notice that his face held no _real_ surprise.

Sakura stuttered incoherently a bit, but in the end, she couldn't think of one thing. All she did think about when she learned of the benefits was how she could do good with such power. Not once did she try to calculate how to manipulate them into earning her money, power, or reputation of any sort.

Itachi simply sat there, with an accomplished, but waiting smirk. He knew that he had won.

"Since it seems that you are at a loss for a reply, I will show you to your room. You may further contemplate your decision there, as you wish. Follow me," Itachi commanded, still a bit smug about his victory.

They exited the meeting room and once again entered the badly lit hallway. They walked down a bit further, until Itachi turned to wall and opened a door. She wouldn't have even noticed that the door even existed had they kept walking. It seemed to blend in perfectly with the wall.

"This is your room. I advise against you leaving it until I come to retrieve you for tomorrow's meeting. Since it is unlikely that you will be able to find it again. Also, if anyone decides to make any surprise visits in order to attempt to get rid of you, don't hesitate to kill them. Those people would be scum that the organization could do without anyways," Itachi stated coldly, even though in translation he just commanded her to kill his comrades if they even thought about harming her in any way.

She nodded and entered the room. Sakura understood what he meant, but it was highly unlikely that she would ever kill anyone.

"Thank you," Sakura said quietly and Itachi nodded in reply. With that he shut the door and walked away.

She inspected the room that she had been given to stay in. It wasn't anything luxurious, and it certainly wasn't homey. It had a cold, empty feeling that chilled her by just standing in it. It lacked warmth and care of any sort.

The bed was made properly, and the blankets were without wrinkles. It was plain, nothing special or intricate. The bed gave her the feeling that the person who made it was so accustomed to the task that they performed in a mechanical manner. Next to the bed was a nightstand, which was made out of wood and adorned with ivory candle on top. She noticed that there was a small drawer inside of it.

Sakura walked over swiftly and whipped open the drawer, hoping to find something that might enlighten or entertain her in some way or form. She was rapidly disappointed when she discovered nothing more than a pack of matches inside.

Sighing at the letdown, she studied the walls and the floor. They were the same as the rest of the cave—nothing more than rock. Next to the door, a lone torch decorated the wall, making it seem a bit less empty.

There wasn't enough room to have much else, but it just seemed so forsaken. Face set with resolve, Sakura decided that she needed to do something to make it seem less… vacant and over-efficient. It was too clean in there, and it needed some mess to spruce it up.

She marched determinedly over to the bed and messed up the blankets. Then she ripped the sheet out from under the rest of the blankets and threw it on the floor. Next, Sakura opened the drawer, took the matches, and lit the candle. Once the candle was securely lit, she placed the matches back in their proper place.

Plopping herself onto the stiff bed, she admired her work. She hadn't done much, but now the room seemed at least a tad livelier, instead of its previous lethargic perfection.

A bit happier with her temporary housing, Sakura laid back on the bed to relax. As she stared aimlessly at the ceiling, her thoughts wandered and her emotions thrashed about.

If she accepted this position, she could do so much. But, what exactly _would_ she do with that power? Sakura would be able to do so much with authority like that, and yet she had no idea just _what_ to do with it.

Then again, there was always the option to turn down the job tomorrow. After all, they couldn't force her to be their Leader; that would just be dumb. Anyone who is forced to command others would probably direct them all to ultimate destruction on purpose to free themselves of their unwanted duties.

If she turned it down, she was turning away the extraordinary opportunity. However, she was accepting her normal life with her friends and family. If she turned it away, she was refusing the protection and happiness of her best friend. Either way, she would undergo investigation for simply fraternizing with the Akatsuki, even for a day or two; she would be branded a criminal and a traitor regardless of her final decision.

Sakura sighed deeply and thought aloud, "I could be _Leader _Sakura…" then shivered and shook her head, "No, I sound old… and conceited. If I accept I will be the commander of a criminal organization. I could use the power I have been given to help Konoha. Heck, with that sort of power, I'm sure I could manage to help everyone!

"However, if I did choose to accept, I shouldn't rush any changes… Well, no use getting ahead of myself. I should decide whether to join or not first."

After a few more moments of Sakura staring determinedly at the ceiling, attempting to figure out what to do, she smirked a bit and an expression of complete resolve crept slowly over her face.

Now Sakura was sure of her answer and what she would do with the path she had chosen—Sakura was sure of herself.

Finally able to relax after figuring things out, she rolled over and allowed herself to drift to sleep.

* * *

Sakura found herself in a black abyss of nothingness. Most would be scared, but she felt at peace in a place like this. Feeling serene, she allowed herself to let loose, and she began to dance in circles while singing softly to herself. Her singing was more of a jumble of incoherent words than anything, but it sounded charming nonetheless.

Her singing skills weren't wonderful, but her voice was relaxing. She sounded like a parent singing their child a sweet lullaby to put them to sleep.

Sakura's singing went to an abrupt halt, however, when she saw a blob of orange in the distance. She began to walk tentatively towards the splotch of color in _her_ darkness.

"Hello?" she called with her hands cupped around her mouth. She received no reply as her voice echoed back at her, but she kept walking towards it.

The color, it reminded her of something. It gave her a sense of foreboding dread, but she knew she had to go to it. Sakura wasn't sure _why_ she had to go to it, but she simply _had_ to, no matter how much it frightened her.

She began to run to whoever or whatever was there, trepidation pulsing through her with every new step she took. As she raced to this thing, she realized that she wasn't afraid of _it_ at all, but rather the reason of why it was there.

Her mouth gaped in shock when she realized who it was. It was Naruto. He was wearing his usual orange and black jumpsuit, however there was something very different about him. He was facing the opposite direction, and seemed to be unaware of her presence.

"Naruto! It's me, Sakura!" she shouted in his direction.

He offered no reply, instead only to slowly turn around. His movements were rough and jagged; as if it took epic amounts of effort to simply move.

Sakura's gut instinct told her that she didn't want him to turn around, that it was a mistake to even seek out to orange blotch of color that had been lost in the distant darkness. Every muscle in her body was trembling and she was internally shrieking at herself to escape, but her efforts were to no avail.

Naruto finally turned all the way around, but his faced remained downcast and engulfed by shadows.

"_Why_, Sakura? You lied. You weren't there," Naruto croaked, and then slowly lifted his head as his finished, "Everyone suffered because _you_ weren't there. You could have stopped it, but instead, you _lied_."

By now, Sakura was hyperventilating and cold sweat was dripping out of her every pore. Her quaking only increased and she was beginning to sink to her knees.

Shaking her head rapidly, Sakura stuttered, "N-no, Naruto. I didn't lie; I swear I d-didn't. I don't know what you're t-talking about. Please, Naruto. Please, s-stop. STOP IT!" By the end of her denial, she was shrieking. She was futilely attempting to convince herself that this was only Naruto, nothing to worry about. However, it wasn't his identity that frightened her, but rather his actions and words.

Sakura finally gathered enough courage to look directly at his face and immediately regretted doing so. His face was sunken in and he had lost his usual tan, instead his skin was a sickly pale. His eyes looked empty and his lips were parched.

She looked at the rest of his body and realized that blood covered the front of him completely, and more blood began to dribble out of his mouth. So much blood, it couldn't possibly be all his. If it were all his he would surely be… _dead_.

His bloody hand of death reached out and grabbed Sakura's right wrist roughly.

At the thought of Naruto being dead and the knowledge that she had a bloodstained hand wrapped around her wrist, Sakura clamped her eyes shut tight and shrieked at the top of her lungs. Her scream of agony and fear drowned out everything; and finally it all faded to black.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, she was utterly drenched in sweat. Her heart was racing and her breathing was irregularly heavy.

She sat up swiftly and immediately looked at her right wrist. She sighed with relief when she didn't discover it to be dripping with blood.

Sakura lay back down and focused on stabilizing her blood pressure and steadying her breathing. When they finally returned to normal, she attempted to go back to sleep, only to end up tossing and turning as she contemplated the horrifying dream. His words seemed to echo endlessly in her head.

"_Everyone suffered because _you_ weren't there. You could have stopped it, but instead, you _lied_."_

_

* * *

_

Hurrah! I'm really happy about this chapter, it was a LOT of fun to type. I am really happy with the length as well! I am so proud that I was able to focus for so long!

_**Due to complications in recent manga chapters, I have decided to make my storyline go up to, not including, chapter 353. Also, I'm curious, I would like to know what you think Sakura will do if she accepts?**_

I have an idea that I have been toying with, and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I would like to thank you all for reading and also those who took the time to review.

I might take me a bit longer to update than usual, because my schedule is going to be packed. However, I shall try my hardest!

-Selah


	13. Chapter 13

Sakura pushed the horrifying nightmare to the back of her mind. She didn't need something else to be worried about; what she did need was to be _focused_.

Suddenly it dawned on Sakura that since she had no idea what time it was. So she opened up her medic pack, and pulled out a wristwatch from her mother that was always in there. She never would wear it—it would only get in the way—but it came in handy when she needed to know the time.

It was four in the morning.

With a bit of a jump Sakura realized that she seriously had to go to the bathroom. She hadn't had access to one for a while, and she would enjoy a shower as well. However, she couldn't leave the room, lest she became lost, and for what she saw, there were no doors in here that led to a bathroom.

Hoping that the door to the bathroom might be like the doors in the hallway, Sakura studied the walls with all of her might. She noticed that one bit of the wall had slightly distorted edges.

So Sakura lifted herself gracefully off of the bed and crept to the area of the wall that was hopefully a door. She was acting like she was on a dangerous mission, which required stealth, in quite a melodramatic fashion. When she stood in front of fit, she gave it a tiny push with her right hand. It budged a bit, but didn't open.

Tired off foolishly messing with the door, Sakura focused her chakra and said shortly, "Kai."

As she had guessed, the doors in this place were concealed by a medium-ranked genjutsu. Nothing more than a simple precaution that would successfully trick several intruders that had managed to even make it this far, if there _were_ any that had managed to make it this far.

She opened the now normal door to a plain bathroom. It had a shower cubicle with glass doors, a toilet, a sink, and a mirror above the sink. This and twenty minutes were all that Sakura needed to get ready.

* * *

Once she was completely refreshed, Sakura looked at her clock. It was only a bit past four o'clock.

She couldn't stay waiting in the room all day; she would die of boredom and would most likely turn into a pyromaniac since matches were all she had along with her sketchpad.

That was it! She had her sketchpad! The problem was that there was too little light in the room for her to draw.

Sighing deeply, Sakura decided that she would just have to venture out of her room. What a shame.

Now she was futilely attempting to convince herself that walking out of the room was entirely necessary; however she knew in the back of her mind that she just making up excuses to go and explore that cavern of criminals.

With her medical pack secured at her side, she exited her bathroom and closed the door behind her. Furtively scanning the room once, she headed out of the stuffy, claustrophobia-inducing room with a sense of grand effervescence that was displayed by the grin plastered on her face.

When had the closed the door behind her, Sakura took a kunai out of her weapons pouch. The genjutsu returned and the door turned into nothing more than what appeared to be the wall of the cave.

In order to find her way back, Sakura knew that she need to give the door something to make it stand out, to make it be different than the rest of the wall. So she used her kunai to engrave a deep "X" in the illusory rock near the floor of the cave.

She smiled brightly and began to casually walk in the direction of what she hoped to be the garden. Sure, it might be a bit of a frightening graveyard there, but it was wonderfully bright and the view was absolutely brilliant.

Sakura knew that she was going the right way when she saw large amounts of light pouring into the corridor. With that as reassurance, she quickened her pace.

However, she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a sound coming from the garden. Sakura wasn't scared, but rather shocked. The sound kept on going, and seemed to draw her in.

It was a dulcet, melancholy melody that danced in the air around her.

Curiosity taking over, she began to run to the garden; she had to see the source of that wonderful music—the music that was sharpening her every sense, but dulling her logic. All she knew was that she had to go to the music.

Sakura darted into the bright garden, and sighed with relief. Not even bothering to look for where of what the music was coming from, she lay back on the lush grass and closed her eyes. Sakura even disregarded the fact that bodies fertilized what she was laying on; she was so taken by the sound. The faintest smile was visible on her face as she absorbed the haunting melody.

However, Sakura's eyes shot open when the music came to an abrupt halt. She looked up into the face of Itachi Uchiha whose eyes where narrowed.

"Why are you out of your room, Sakura?" Itachi inquired coldly.

Sakura rolled her eyes as she prepared herself for a lecture, and then replied, "It was _so _boring in there. I was already bored to tears by four in the morning. Sorry, but I just had to do something," Sakura paused, and then continued, "After I had left my room, I heard this amazing music. Did you hear it too? If you did, I'm sure that you can understand that I couldn't help but to be engulfed by it." As she recalled the euphoric tune, she couldn't help but to let the barest smile pass across her face.

"Yes I heard it. I was the one playing it," Itachi answered quietly, and then said, "I told you that it wasn't smart for you to venture out of your room. Do you honestly wish to become part of the garden?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes in confusion, paying no attention to the former statement, instead pondering the latter and asked, "Why would Zetsu kill me. I know that yesterday he was debating it, but I would just _let_ him kill me."

Only a tense silence resounded in the garden.

"Oh. I get it now. You doubt my strength. If you doubt me so much, then why did you even get me to come here and take this job?" Sakura spat vehemently.

Itachi turned his back to her then said, "I will retrieve you from here rather than your room when it is time for the meeting." And with those final words, he strode off back in to the darkness of the cave.

Now Sakura was feeling the irresistible urge to punch something. The ground seemed handy; however the portion of her mind that wasn't entirely consumed by anger advised against it—after all, she was so mad that one of her punches might crumble the whole structure of the hideout. Instead, she settled for something a bit less violent, but nonetheless relieving. Sakura let out of scream of fury, as she released her rage. Eventually her enraged roar died out to nothing more than a strangled cry.

Then, for the first time in years, Sakura allowed herself to actually cry. She wasn't weeping because she was sad, but rather out of anger. She let down her guard, letting out all of her previously restrained emotions. Sakura was releasing years of tension and stress, while knowing that she had to be prepared for a lot more with what she was about to do.

* * *

After about thirty seconds of crying, Sakura wiped her face clean of any remaining tears. She felt wonderful after truly, _fully_ crying for the first time in a long time. Honestly, she felt like singing and dancing.

Sakura began to let a brilliant smile creep across her face, but stopped midway. Her eyes narrowed a bit and she whipped her head around to face a sudden intruder.

"It's time," Itachi stated.

It was time for the meeting now. Sakura lifted herself gracefully off of the ground and began to walk with him into the cave. She was still a bit peeved with Itachi because of the incident from earlier, but excitement completely dulled and overtook any remaining anger.

As they entered the meeting room, she noticed that once again, everyone else had arrived before them.

Itachi and Sakura took their seats, and silence overcame the room. Every member seemed to have a somber look on their face as though they dreaded to hear whether she accepted of not. At the thought of this, Sakura had to resist the urge to snort—of course they didn't want her to accept. After all, what person in an organization of criminals would want a girl with _pink_ hair to govern them?

Itachi's calm voice shattered the tense silence, "Do you accept the position as Leader of the Akatsuki, Sakura?"

Sakura paused for a moment, only to let a satanic smirk appear on her face. This was it.

"Yes, I, Sakura Haruno, accept the position as Leader of the Akatsuki," she answered, still smirking. Her smirk seemed to convey the message that she knew all the answers, but she wasn't going to tell. Sakura knew what she was doing and how she was going to do it; she also knew that her actions probably wouldn't be liked either.

A silence that seemed to be mourning her consent chilled the room, until Itachi broke it with his voice, "There is only one thing that you must do to vow loyalty to the Akatsuki."

It was time for Sakura to pledge allegiance to the organization of criminals and killers. This only extended her smirk farther. However, she couldn't help but to wonder what she would have to do.

"Take out a kunai," Itachi ordered without emotion.

Sakura did as she was told.

"Now take off you headband and lay it on the table in front of you."

A sense of dread filled Sakura when she heard the word headband. Yet, she still carried out his instructions, but in a mechanic manner.

There was a bit of a pause, and then Itachi stated in a finalistic voice, "Now betray your village and claim allegiance to nothing other than the Akatsuki by making a slash through the symbol of your previous village."

Sakura knew that it was coming, and yet when she heard the words shock still hit her. His words were like a slap across the face with a cold, wet towel. Her former smirk slowly faded.

She rose from her seat with her headband resting on the table in front of her.

For a few moments, Sakura simply stood there gazing at her headband as is gleamed in the dim light. She knew that she had to do it, but just the mere though of committing such a horrifying act killed her inside.

Suddenly, cold determination appeared on her face. She knew what she had to do; Sakura was truly leaving behind Konoha for good. She might return, but instead she would return as an enemy, not the student of Tsunade or teammate of Naruto and Sai. Her final departure would be beneficial for all of the people she was leaving behind—they just might not realize it.

Harsh determination flashing in her eyes, with a nasty screeching sound, she enforced her kunai with her charka and swiftly carved a slash through the symbol on her headband; Sakura carved the slash that made it certain that she was no longer part of Konohagakure. No, now instead she was Sakura Haruno, Leader of the Akatsuki. The Leader with no loyalty to any village—and that included Konoha.

* * *

Yay! I'm so darn hyped right now! The recent chapters of the manga (which I am still _freaking_ out over) and then this chapter that I've just typed! It was LOADS of fun to type! That's probably because I didn't have computer access for several days, resulting in me feeling deprived... -.- I apologize profusely for taking so long to update, but I simply couldn't without a computer.

I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you all for reading and thank you to all of the people who took the time to review. Also, thank you to all of the people that gave me their ideas for what Sakura is going to do with the Akatsuki. They are inspiring! If you have anymore, feel free to tell me. A lot of people were generally close to what I'm going to have her do... But I still feel sneaky!

I feel lie I am forgetting something. If I am, then I'm sorry.

-Selah


	14. Chapter 14

In her head, Sakura was shrilly shrieking at herself for what she had just done, but on her external shell, one saw nothing more that an indifferent face that was taking on her duties. She didn't want to be the enemy, but she _had_ to be the enemy; even if she was working for their benefit, the problem being that is was unlikely for them to notice this. She was determined to make this work.

Sakura was careful to act nonchalant as she wrapped the marred headband around her head once more, right where it belonged. It felt to her as if nothing had changed, but subconsciously, she knew much better.

"Here, please take this ring and wear it on whichever finger it may fit, Lady Sakura," Itachi said as he handed her a black ring with a white symbol on it.

She had to resist the urge to giggle aloud at Itachi's terminology; at least he didn't call her "Leader".

Sakura took a moment to examine her Akatsuki ring. It was onyx with a splotch of white on it that formed the Japanese kanji character for the word "sorrow". Her features softened with an inner sense of wistfulness when she realized the deeper meaning. She didn't mind though, since she had brought this sadness upon herself for the sake of those she loved.

Then Sakura decided to try and slid it on each one of her fingers, only to find that it wouldn't fit on any fingers other than her ring fingers. She refused to put it on her left hand, lest she feel that she was marrying the organization, and chose to allow it rest on her right, ring finger.

Looking up, into the faces of her new subordinates, Sakura stated clearly, "Well, I would like to get to know you all by name now. Please go around the table and state your name for me."

Next to her, a blonde-haired man said gruffly, as though it almost pained him, "Deidara, yeah."

For a moment, Sakura narrowed her eyes, wondering where she knew him from. Then it dawned on her that this had been Sasori's partner. With a pang, she recalled that she had been responsible for the death of his comrade.

"My name is Tobi!" exclaimed a boy with an orange mask that was adorned with a spiral, which centered in on his singular eye. At his enthusiasm, Sakura couldn't help but to let the ghost of a smile appear on her face.

"Our name is Zetsu," Zetsu said calmly, containing his schizophrenic tendencies to mutter to himself.

The blue haired, Samehada wielding, Kisame said huskily with no lack of respect, "Kisame Hoshigaki, Lady Sakura." His newfound respect caused Sakura to get the idea that he was trying to make up for his outburst the previous day.

Lastly, Itachi stated emotionlessly, "Itachi Uchiha."

Of course, Sakura already knew Itachi and Kisame, but it was an order for every member to follow.

"Okay, so with our introductions out of the way I'll cut to the chase. The hunt for the tailed-demons is from this point on _over_ and _done_ with. And if any of you decide to go against this order, I will be sure to punish you _directly_.

"If I am correct, the former purpose of the Akatsuki was to eventually achieve world domination? Well, you can scratch that idea as well. Honestly, what did you plan on doing after you did reach that goal? Not that you all would be the ones ruling the world; you would only loyally serve your superiors and do all the work to get them there.

"So, your new purpose to live for is to purge the world of all existing criminals. And no, I am not telling you all to go and commit suicide. After all, when I put my plans into motion, you will be doing enough good work to possibly redeem yourselves, even if it's only a little. In fact, just to clear things up, there will be _no_ committing suicide, regardless of how much you hate me being your new Leader.

"So, our first target will be the band of criminals that go by the name 'Snake'. The members are Karin, Juugo, Suigetsu, and Sasuke Uchiha.

"The objective will be to return them to their original villages, and the Kages of these villages may punish them as they see fit. If their original village is unknown and they refuse to spill it, then they can find a home in our jail cells.

"The members executing this mission will be Deidara, Kisame, and Itachi. I will also take part. Snake won't be hard to draw out; after all, they are after both Kisame and Itachi. So, Kisame, your duty will be to defeat Suigetsu, a fellow swordsman who will challenge you for your Samehada, and return him to his village. Itachi, you will have to defeat Sasuke Uchiha, since he would refuse to even _bother_ fighting anyone else. Deidara, your job will be Juugo. I know nothing about his abilities, but I am sure that you will manage. I will personally knock out Karin.

"…Does anyone have any questions that they would like to ask?" Sakura summed up her cold lecture that she had executed with a venomous tone of command.

She took a moment to study their expressions. No one seemed surprised that Sakura had completely turned the organization upside-down, but she noticed that a few seemed to be internally twitching with irritation.

Deidara's voice broke the silence grumpily, "I have a question, yeah. Why did your lecture have to be so long-lived? Sasori might have thought that it was beautiful in an artistic sense for being everlasting, yeah, but honestly things are better as a bang; try to shorten it next time, would ya? Are you artistically challenged, yeah?"

"I could always make your life artistically short, Deidara," Sakura hissed with a menacing glare.

There was no reply, instead sullen look overtaking Deidara's face.

"I guess that you aren't quite up for the afterlife yet. Anyhow, this mission will begin the day after tomorrow, and we will leave at seven in the morning. Meeting dismissed," Sakura ordered in an authoritative voice.

With a small bow as a sign of respect, all of the members, excluding Itachi and Sakura, filed quietly out of the meeting room.

Once each person was a great distance from the room, and no charka could be sensed, Itachi commended in his stoic voice, "Well done, Lady Sakura. However, I didn't linger behind to congratulate you," he reached inside his cloak and pulled out what seemed to be another Akatsuki cloak, "I wanted to give you this."

Itachi handed her the cloak, and Sakura put it on. The fabric was nice; it seemed to keep out any extreme heat or cold, therefore assisting in maintaining a level body temperature while fighting in any weather conditions.

With a small bow, Itachi turned to exit the room.

However, he stopped when Sakura shook her head and said, "Wait, Itachi. I still need to talk to you."

He didn't turn around, but she knew that he was listening, so Sakura asked, "I need a favor. Once you beat Sasuke into an immobile condition, I was wondering… if instead of you taking him back, if maybe I could. Then you could drag that… _thing_ named Karin to wherever it belongs. I hope that she ends up in our cells and Zetsu gets hungry…"

"You don't need to ask, Lady Sakura, I'll consider it an order," Itachi responded and then asked, "Is there anything else that you needed?"

"I don't need anymore favors, but I still do need to talk to you. I'm sorry for keeping you… but seeing as I _apparently_ don't have a tendency to shut up quickly, you might want to sit down again," Sakura sighed as Itachi took a seat next to her, then she continued with a small smile, "Well for starters, there is no need to call me 'Lady Sakura' when it's only us, it's only better that you do when we are with other people, just so they don't begin to think that I don't require respect and then turning into people not listening to me…"

Itachi simply sat there listening to Sakura, even when she paused.

Sakura cracked a smile and said laughing a little, "I could tell that you didn't really want to give me a black ring—you were itching to give me a pink one, weren't you?"

Even though he didn't let it show, Sakura caught the faintest signs of a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I knew it! Did you choose what the ring ended up saying?" Sakura inquired turning a bit more serious.

Itachi paused, and then replied, "Yes, I did."

"You couldn't have chosen a more perfect word," Sakura said in a faraway voice, her mind traveling elsewhere, recalling all the sorrow that this choice had made, not only for her, but for several of those that she loved.

As she was lost in thought, she faintly remembered a haunting sound, the melancholy melody… that had been played by Itachi. She had been too angry to even think about how he claimed to have been playing that music, but now that she remembered what he had said, Sakura was in a bit of a shock.

Sakura faintly blushed and then requested a bit timidly, "I don't know if this is only more of a burden to you… but could you possibly play that wonderful music again for me sometime? Maybe while I'm drawing, in the garden, or something. It was just so… entrancing. I'll have to admit that I am surprised that you were the source of the music."

"As surprised as most will be when they find out that you are the Leader of the Akatsuki," Itachi smirked, and then finished apathetically, "No one in the Akatsuki besides you knows that I play the flute."

Sakura took this as a polite refusal to her question. When she realized this, she felt miserable, and she wished that she hadn't even brought it up.

Sakura shook her head, "Oh, it's okay, I get it. Just forget that I said anything…"

She wasn't sure why, but it was really bothering her that he wouldn't play it for her. Her feelings even seemed to border on _hurt_. It wasn't that she was so desperate to hear the beautiful sound again, but it felt like something else about it was irking her.

Sakura realized why she felt hurt—it was because it felt like he wouldn't share his art with her as she had shared hers with him; even if it wasn't necessarily consensual. When he saw her drawing of him, he had been looking at a piece of her soul. And yet, he didn't want to share any bit of himself that he expressed through his music with her.

"Eh…One last thing before I'm finished…" Sakura said, expecting it to relieve him that she was almost over, and then summed up, "I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much—in a weird sort of way."

With her last words being said, Itachi walked to the doorway.

Just before he took his leave, Itachi said quietly, "Sakura, there is no need to thank me. It was your artwork that got you here."

And then he left.

* * *

Even after he was gone, Sakura didn't bother to move; she was too busy contemplating everything.

At first she was thinking about Itachi's parting words. In essence, it was due to a foolish mistake by the sadistic swordsman that landed her here. Not because she was anything special, talented, or had outstanding qualities.

Oddly enough, this intensified her earlier hurt. And she couldn't figure out why stupid words were bothering her so much. Normally the only verbal thing that would upset her would be someone calling her annoying. And yet this was so much different.

Her mind wandered to the results of the meeting. It seemed that Deidara didn't necessarily take to her, but Sakura understood why. She also noticed that with the way she spoke and acted, it seemed that Sakura had managed to earn some respect from the members, which was what she had been aiming for.

Regardless of the congratulations that she was giving herself, Sakura's mind wandered back to her internal pain. She just couldn't figure it out.

Pushing aside and distress and mental turmoil over the meaning and her baffling feelings, Sakura thought about their entire conversation as a whole. She remembered how she asked him to sit down because she had a lot to talk about.

After a moment, Sakura realized that she didn't really require his presence any further than asking for the favor. No, Sakura just wanted to talk to him. She wanted to talk to him, even if it was about dumb, pointless things. She _needed_ to talk to him.

Sakura closed her eyes, and rested back in her seat. With flashes, everything that happened since she had venture to the Uchiha complex, replayed in her head like a phantasmagoria.

In such a short amount of time, such _life-altering_ events had occurred—events that not only affected her, but everyone around her. Then again, what action doesn't affect everyone that surrounds you in _some_ way?

One by one, she thought of each one of them.

First she though about her mother and how she would react when she finally found out that her daughter was now the Leader of the Akatsuki. How could she _possibly_ continue to self-righteously brag about a daughter that was the head of a _criminal_ organization? It would probably hurt to not be able to use Sakura's accomplishments for her own benefit. Perhaps this would be the time to let the truth shine, and she wouldn't think about her _dear_ daughter ever again, unless she was contemplating how it affected her reputation and how now she wasn't _superior_ to everyone anymore; no, not when her spawn was now an _S-class criminal_. Sakura's mother seemed to always be under the delusion that her _daughter's_ successes made her better than everyone else—that her _daughter's_ successes were her _own_.

With an expression of disgust, Sakura moved onto people that _mattered_. She began to think about the woman that was more of her mother than any woman with the same blood—Tsunade. She would probably be so inexplicably _pissed_ that she might just come to get Sakura and beat her to an unrecognizable lump herself. She felt bad that she had betrayed Tsunade like this, but Sakura was doing good things with her plenipotentiary position. If only there was a way for Sakura to tell Tsunade how important this was, maybe then she would feel more settled and less guilty.

Next, her mind moved to the beaming, whiskered face of her best friend; probably the best friend that she would ever have. Would he hate her for what she had done? In a way, Sakura hoped that he did, because she knew that _she_ hated herself. How would Naruto react when he found out? When he discovered that his newfound family was gradually leaving him one by one, what would he do?

Sakura shook her head in an attempt to disrupt the thoughts that only intensified her own self-hatred.

Instead, now, Sakura's thoughts wandered to Sasuke—the person that she had become; she turned into a traitor. She almost laughed out loud when she thought of how he would react when he discovered her new leadership. She hoped to see him shocked, to see Sasuke angry. She wanted to see him angry at her; Sakura wanted him to attack her out of purest fury and hatred. She wanted him to hate her as vehemently as she hated him.

It was odd in way, how much he so desperately desired to murder the mirror image of himself. Itachi and Sasuke looked so alike, with the exception of skin tone and hair length, of course. However, when it came down to personalities, they were generally opposite, unless you were counting their egotistical attitudes.

All of this thinking about Sasuke made Sakura excited about the upcoming mission. About how she was personally going to drag him back to Konoha, most likely in a state similar to that of a coma, and be able to see Naruto and give Sasuke to him personally. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad for Naruto then, since he would have one friend back with him. Then they might even be able to recuperate their friendship, after Naruto gave him a healthy beating, and if Tsunade decided to let him live, of course.

Something about Naruto was bothering her in the pit of her stomach. Every time she thought about him, Sakura just felt some sort of a foreboding sense with something that had to do with him.

Brushing it off, Sakura returned to thinking about her future victory, with the sense of excitement tingling in her every nerve and the rush of the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins. She just couldn't wait to see how surprised Sasuke would be when he realized that she had used his weakness against him, used his weakness to take him back to the place that he left behind.

Pushing herself up from her chair, Sakura began to walk back to her room. Her footsteps echoed off of the rock walls of the corridor as she searched the lower portion of the wall for her "X".

When she spotted it, Sakura stopped in front of it and released the genjutsu with a quiet, "Kai."

When Sakura entered her room, she was mumbling tiredly, "Brotherly hatred… It's just so darn cute… What families are happy anymore? …Other than the ones we personally forge with people that were once strangers."

Once she was done ranting incoherently with fatigue, Sakura walked over to her bed, looked at it idiotically for a moment, and then passed out face first on the messy comforter, still half of her body on the floor.

* * *

And so... the hiatus is over! I am really happy about this chapter, I hope that you will be as delighted as I am about it! It is probably the longest chapter that I'll ever produce!

Moving on... I'm sure that a lot of people are wondering why I put the story only hiatus. Well here is your explanation--I was depressed due to both health and family-oriented factors. I just couldn't write. The depression hasn't faded much, but my will to write has come back:D

I am so, so, so VERY sorry about the hiatus. I would like to thank you all for reading and all of those that have continued to stick with me throughout this story. Thank you.

Once again I feel like I am forgetting something important... If am am, then please forgive me.

-Selah


	15. Authoress's Note

Dear Readers,

Well, I can't say that I could blame you if you have given up on my story, due to the ridiculous delay for the next chapter.

If anyone is actually still interested, then I am happy to deliver good news: I'm not giving up on this story. Ever.

I'm not saying that it will be quick, but I'm sincerely trying. For some reason, I lack any form of consistant focus.

All I can say is that I am _really_ trying and that...I'm sorry if I have let anyone down.

Thank you.

- Selah M. Snow


	16. Chapter 15

_Here's a few snippets of some important things that happened in more recent chapters:_

Harsh determination flashing in her eyes, with a nasty screeching sound, she enforced her kunai with her charka and swiftly carved a slash through the symbol on her headband; Sakura carved the slash that made it certain that she was no longer part of Konohagakure. No, now instead she was Sakura Haruno, Leader of the Akatsuki. The Leader with no loyalty to any village—and that included Konoha.

"So, our first target will be the band of criminals that go by the name 'Snake'. The members are Karin, Juugo, Suigetsu, and Sasuke Uchiha.

"I guess that you aren't quite up for the afterlife yet. Anyhow, this mission will begin the day after tomorrow, and we will leave at seven in the morning. Meeting dismissed," Sakura ordered in an authoritative voice.

Once she was done ranting incoherently with fatigue, Sakura walked over to her bed, looked at it idiotically for a moment, and then passed out face first on the messy comforter, still half of her body on the floor.

* * *

_Chapter 15_

When Sakura woke up, her legs and back were in excruciating pain. Groggily, she noticed that there was something wrong with the way she was laying—it just didn't feel right. There was something strange about the location of her legs versus her torso.

When she opened her eyes, Sakura immediately realized what the problem was—half of her body didn't quite make it to the bed in time and was still resting of the floor.

Painfully, she lifted herself up by supporting herself with her arms on the bed. As she did, she let out a quiet hiss from between her from teeth.

As soon as Sakura was standing steadily, she began to crack her back in every way that she knew.

Once this was done, she proceeded into the bathroom to complete her daily cleansing rituals.

When this was over and done with, Sakura wondered what to do with the day, since they didn't leave until tomorrow… And then she recalled that she hadn't touched her sketchpad for a while; it had become rather neglected, all desolate, bare pages, with the exception of one.

With new vigor and excitement, Sakura made sure that she had her pack, and headed out of the room—she just couldn't wait to see what the combination of her imagination and her hand would create.

As soon as she turned into the extravagant garden, Sakura squinted her eyes to careful scan the premises for a place for her to take refuge. She noticed the perfect spot near a medium-sized Japanese maple tree. The tree was sturdy enough to support her back, which rested on its trunk, and it let just enough light through its leaves, but not to the point of the light being blinding or so that she couldn't see her lines properly.

Immediately, Sakura sat down on the ground and pulled her sketchpad out of her medic pack along with a pencil.

Her sketchpad fell open to the singular drawing that it held. And with a small, wistful smile, Sakura took a moment to study it.

Shaking her head to clear the sad image, she flipped to the next page and her hand went to work of its own accord.

Sakura went away forming lines, curves, and shading, and yet she knew not what she was working towards.

Once she had the concept of what her picture would turn into on the paper, she went to work with details. Slowly, yet surely, the clear image of it began to emerge.

After a few more minutes of details and corrections, Sakura looked at the work that her hand had produced.

It was nearly the same as her first picture—it was bloody and morbid, but more so, it was sad. Instead of Itachi staring horrified at the bodies of his family, it was Sakura in her Akatsuki attire, her face wide-eyed with trepidation as she looked upon an abandoned and blood-spattered Konoha from the viewpoint of the village entrance.

She let out a sigh of relief when she didn't find any dead bodies of her friends and previous comrades in the picture—it was only the bloodied and wrecked buildings.

This picture was a jeremiad of what Sakura feared would happen to Konoha because of her actions. She did well to convince herself that her actions would benefit Konoha, and they certainly would if everything went as planned, but she had an unsettling fear that told her otherwise.

Sakura looked closely at her eyes, only to find that they were the same as she had drawn Itachi's—dolorous, lonely, and full of contrition, with a hint of disbelief.

Sakura's lips were trembling as she stared at the paper in front of her.

Her head shot up when she heard a familiar sound that was so desired that it seized her immediate attention. It was so sweet, that sound, she wanted it to stay.

She realized that sitting in the center of the garden, under the brilliant sunlight in front of her was Itachi with his flute. The flute that was gently held to his lips by his strangely delicate, yet not under-worked, hands was a wooden flute, and it looked like he may have even made it himself.

The wooden flute he held so delicately was a masterpiece of art. It was long and slender, simple in design. Hooked on the end of it was a bell similar to the one that he wore on his straw hat, which tinkled lightly in the wind. It was perfect for him.

Any doubts from the previous day vanished when an idea popped into her head, and just the idea made her happy, so she wouldn't risk asking about its validity. Sakura would be sad again had it been wrong—perhaps Itachi had decided to play for her after all. For _her_. Sakura wasn't sure why, but she just liked how that sounded—it was almost as nice as the music itself.

For the next few minutes, Sakura simply sat there, enjoying the dulcet melody, and entertaining the idea that he was playing for _her_. She opened up her eyes to look at Itachi as he played, his fingers moving gently over the holes craved in the wooden flute as he put air into it to make the music.

His face and posture was serene as his hair blew gracefully in the breeze. His eyes were closed, and he seemed so calm that one might have believed him to be sleeping had his fingers not been moving. Itachi was entirely ethereal—surely he wasn't of this world, something that looked as he did in that moment couldn't be.

Sakura's face lit up when an idea popped into her head. Immediately, she flipped to a clean page in her sketchpad and her hand went to work. She knew that this would be the best method that she had on hand to preserve this moment forever. Sakura never wanted to forget it—she wouldn't let this memory fade like she had the memories of Team Seven. No, this memory would be everlasting, and if she needed help to recall it, the picture would be in her sketchpad to refresh her memory.

As she drew his every contour and miniscule detail, Sakura wished that she could draw things like fragrances and sounds. She wished with all of her heart that she could draw the sound that he produced with his flute, but much to her dismay, this was something that she was quite incapable of.

Sakura was finding it hard to make her drawing as beautiful as he was. For being such a dark creature, he managed to radiate an indescribable light. It was charismatic beyond all logic and understanding. Then again, Itachi himself was an enigma.

She finally finished her last bit of shading; the music came to a smooth end.

Sakura lifted her eyes to meet with his as she smiled brilliantly, "Thank you for playing for me… The sound that you produce with your flute is incomparable to any other. Thank you so much."

Itachi simply nodded in response, his impervious expression in place as always.

"I wonder what made you change your mind…" Sakura whispered to herself quietly. She hadn't even realized that she spoke her thoughts aloud.

Itachi looked toward the surrounding flora as he answered softly, "You did."

Before Sakura even had enough time to react, Itachi was gone. She opted to simply sit there, wide-eyed with surprise. Sakura Haruno simply couldn't comprehend how a person with no emotions could cause her to feel so many.

Shaking off the confusion, Sakura decided to focus her attention on her plans for tomorrow. When it came down to it—a lot of planning wasn't actually necessary. Their targets would come to them without fail; they would mercilessly dominate their predefined opponents, and then leave it up to the Hidden Village authorities from there on.

However one question in particular continued to plague her—was she doing the correct thing with her new power? She was handed some of the most powerful myrmidons that one could ever dream to command. However, Sakura was a bouleversement to their world, so she wasn't even sure how long their flawless loyalty would last.

This did not matter either way though, since she would deal with issues as they came. She would simply have to plan things in a manner that relied on absolutely no "assumptions" of any sort and leave room for change if unexpected things occurred.

Shaking her head, Sakura decided to spend the rest of the day packing for tomorrow's mission, and then she would attempt to get a sufficient amount of sleep.

When she arrived at and entered her room, she realized that she really didn't have anything to pack—everything she had was already neatly stowed away inside of her medical bag.

With all of this time on her hands, she opted just to go to sleep—she would need all the energy she could muster for tomorrow.

Sakura walked into the meeting room at precisely 6:55, nervously anticipating the inception of their mission. Looking around the room, she realized that everyone necessary was present—Deidara, Kisame, Itachi, and herself.

She felt so strange wearing her black ring and her red clouded-cloak because it reminded her that she wasn't carrying out this mission as a loyal shinobi of Konoha; she was carrying it out as a criminal, a traitor, and the Leader of the Akatsuki.

Sakura announced, "Alright everyone, I'm glad to see that we are all gathered and prepared. Does anyone have any questions before we leave?"

Since only silence resounded, she took that as a no.

"Alright then. Well, can someone take the lead to the door, seeing as I personally have no idea how to get out of here? Once we're out, we'll head in the direction of Sound. My guess is that he touched base with Kabuto to heal up after our… scuffle with him," Sakura said, unable to keep a smirk from creeping across her face in remembrance of her last run-in with Sasuke.

Itachi walked in the direction of the door, his face stoic as ever, and said quietly, but clearly, "This way, Lady Sakura."

Following Itachi's lead, they wove their way to the exit and walked through the rock to exit once again.

With the cool air of the dark forest encasing her skin, Sakura's smirk broadened. Just knowing what she was about to do already had the adrenaline pumping through her veins. To calm the violent thumping of her racing heart, she drew in a deep, calming breath.

She took a moment to look at each of her newly acquired comrades: first Kisame. His fishlike face was grinning broadly—it looked like he was eagerly anticipating the upcoming fight. Next, she looked at Deidara; he seemed bored and was playing with a small amount of clay. Lastly, Sakura studied Itachi; his expression was just as it always was, which was beginning to make Sakura wonder if his face was set in stone, or if perhaps some of his facial muscles lacked any sort of functionality.

They seemed ready enough. With a curt nod, Sakura signaled them all to head off.

They whizzed through the trees so swiftly and silently that they probably weren't noticed by anyone that they may have passed by. And even if a person had noticed them, they would have been there and gone so quickly that the person would have brushed it off as nothing more than their imagination. This was the perfect veil from people—or at least the people that they didn't want to notice them.

If Sakura's senses were correct about the approximate location of the hideout, then if they continued heading north, they would eventually enter Sound territory. Then again, if she was incorrect, she was leading them in the entirely wrong direction and they just weren't saying anything about it.

Sakura furrowed her brow as she sensed a team of chakras about a fourth of a mile in front of them. It was either three or four people. This meant that it _could_ be Snake, but it could also be a Konoha search party, or maybe even a team of random nin on a mission for another village. However, they were close to the Sound border so maybe…

The idea that it _might_ not be them made Sakura uneasy to immediately attack. So, instead of attacking, she jumped down from the tree tops and sat down against the trunk of a tree.

Deidara came to the halt simultaneously with the rest of the team and looked at her, appalled, "What, did you need a little beauty rest or something, yeah? I don't know if your senses are dull, yeah, but they're not too far in front of us, and this isn't the time to take a catnap."

"Deidara… maybe it's not my senses that are dull, but rather your thinking process. Yeah, so what if it _might_ be them? What did you plan on doing if it wasn't? If it is them, they'll come to us, so take a chill pill, and some Midol might help too," Sakura hissed irritably.

Taking a moment to concentrate on the nin, Sakura closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. If she was correct, the group was splitting up… one seemed to be moving west, another was moving east, and the other two were heading south… directly for them.

Sakura's head shot up, "Deidara, you go after the one moving east…" she trailed off. The one that was moving west took a sharp turn in their direction.

"Go, Deidara. We'll stay here and deal with the other three. Remember the purpose of this mission," Sakura ordered.

He shot northeastward just as one person joined her on the forest floor, and two others met up with Itachi and Kisame in the treetops.

To Sakura's surprise and slight dismay, she wasn't staring into the face of that brat, Karin, but rather was looking at the bruised, swollen, and bleeding face of… Naruto?

Her eyes widened and her jaw gaped in confusion—or was it fear?

Sakura's first instinct was to run up to him, embrace him, and start healing him, but instead she snarled, "Kai."

"Of course it wasn't Naruto; he's safe in Konoha," Sakura mentally assured herself.

When the genjutsu dispersed, she quickly surveyed the area to find that everyone had decided to accompany her on the forest floor—Kisame was to her far right, already dueling with Suigetsu; Itachi was to her left, with Sasuke standing behind him, just smirking. Her eyes were about to move on to Karin who was standing about 10 feet away from her, but her eyes couldn't help but to swivel back to that smug, rotten face.

As Sakura ground her teeth, she only had one thing on her mind—the man which she had once claimed to love, the bastard that was now the object of her purest hatred.

Even as Sasuke turned to start fighting with Itachi, Sakura couldn't remove her eyes from his despicable face. It seemed like Karin might have been making some worthless remarks toward her, but her brain failed to interpret what she might have said.

Just as Karin was about to land a heavy blow on Sakura's head, she lunged forward at the only thing that seemed to exist at that moment in time—the traitor, the teammate, the pretender, the good friend, the first love, the first heart break, and the last abuser—Sasuke.

She had never moved so fast in her entire life; then again, Sakura had never been this determined. She smoothly swerved around Itachi and stood face to face with her target.

He had opened his smirking mouth to make a sarcastic remark, but before his tongue could form a word, Sakura's tightly clenched fists bombarded his chest six times in rapid succession.

As he slid backwards, Sasuke sent his chakra to his feet to help keep his balance steady.

Sakura grinned heartlessly and said, "Well, Sasuke, how does good, old Konoha sound? I wonder… do you even remember what it looks like? Ah, that doesn't matter anyways, seeing as you'll be getting a bit of a memory-refresher soon enough."

Sasuke didn't have enough breath to reply—he was panting heavily in an attempt to regain the oxygen that Sakura had knocked clear up and out of his lungs. However, after a moment or two, he managed to regain his composure.

"You're not getting all annoying on me like this because you didn't like my genjutsu, are you? I'm almost offended—I was beginning to think that you and I were alike, both of us being traitors and all. I always knew that you were capable of being a full-blown traitor after the day you offered to come with me, and it feels wonderful to find out that my predictions are correct. Then again, when am I ever wrong?

"Regardless, I just never imagined the… Akatsuki? Are you the Leader's concubine, or something?" Sasuke asked with faux innocence.

Sakura's previous fury vanished and was replaced with spiteful hilarity.

"Like you? Hardly. I didn't become a traitor for self-beneficial reasons, unlike you.

"Anyways… a concubine? Well, that must be the nicest thing that you've said to me in all of the years that I've known you. Oh that and 'Thank you'. However, I have to wonder, how could I possibly be a concubine to a man that hasn't drawn breath for quite a while now?" Sakura asked.

At this, Sasuke just arched a questioning eyebrow, so Sakura continued, "Oh, I suppose that you weren't notified… the _prior_ Leader of the Akatsuki is six feet under."

"And the new Leader is…?"

Sakura smirked gleefully and announced as she pointed to herself, "Well, Sasuke, meet the new Leader of the Akatsuki, Sakura Haruno."

* * *

AHHHHH! Yay! I'm so happy, I finally finished the chapter! I edited as much as possible, but mistakes always manage to make their way past my notice, so I apologize for any errors.

More importantly... I want to thank everyone that has been dedicated enough to stick around. You are all AMAZING. Not only are you all amazing, you are also incredibly patient.

Also, thank you to the people that take the time to not only read, but also review - it really helps to put a writer back in writing mode and it's reallllly uplifting. (:

As for the next update: I'm going to try to update as soon as possible, but please be patient with me (as if you haven't been already, haha), but I'll definitely try my hardest.

I'm super excited to have this up! Hopefully you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I really hope that it wasn't a disappointment considering you have been waiting all of this time. Thank you!

-Selah M. Snow


	17. Chapter 16

Yo! Well, here is the next installment of _The Leather-Bound Sketchpad_! Please forgive me for any errors. Also, many thanks to the people that take the time to read and review! There are a couple important notes about this chapter:

1. There will be references to past chapters in this. Particularily Chapter 1 (when she visits the Uchiha complex.) If there are any questions or any confusion, feel free to ask me about it.

2. This chapter may seem like it contains SasuSaku - this certainly isn't what I intended, so if you're freaking out while reading it, rest assured - it's meant to be a friendship sort-of-thing. However, if you would prefer it to actually be SasuSaku, then knock yourself out.

3. I have a new story idea called _Bloody Handprints. _I am considering posting the prologue as a sort of preview; however, I would not actually start writing the entire thing until once I'm done with this. I'll be posting a poll so you can tell me whether it's a good idea to post the prologue or not. :) For more information on it, check my page or PM me!

Please forgive me for the ridiculous wait and... enjoy!

* * *

_Chapter 16_

Sasuke's face momentarily faltered. His eyes scanned her up and down in utter disbelief.

His eyes narrowed and he accused, "You're lying."

"Really now? I'm lying? Do you honestly believe that I would leave Konoha only to settle for a subordinate position in the Akatsuki, Sasuke?" Sakura laughed heartlessly as she relished the fault in his normally perfect composure.

Sasuke's initially accusing eyes slowly grew wide and his jaw slackened in shock. His brain couldn't come up with a single sarcastic remark, and if he had, his tongue wouldn't be able to pronounce it.

Sakura was as entertained as Sasuke was incredulous; as he stared, she grinned.

Sadly, all good things come to an end—as the moments passed, this disbelief began to evaporate and his aura took on his usual arrogance.

The first words out of Sasuke's smug mouth were, "Oh, Naruto will certainly love that. The two people he cared about most are now both blatant traitors. Maybe you're more similar to me than you're willing to admit."

_Naruto_.

Hearing the name snapped Sakura out of her entertained mood and into the same shock that Sasuke had just overcome. Sure, she had thought about Naruto a lot since she left, but hearing that name from _his_ mouth just… didn't seem right.

Sakura's heart was pumping hard. It almost hurt.

_What will Naruto think?_

No, it _did_ hurt.

"_I might not be around for a while. It shouldn't be too long… But don't worry, I'll be fine, and it's not like this is goodbye forever."_

That's what Sakura had said to Naruto just before she left Konoha… and joined the Akatsuki.

Sakura gulped.

"_I lied,_" she thought to herself in terror.

With a grimace, Sakura recalled the somber terms that Itachi had clearly pointed out before she agreed to leave Konoha to "temporarily" help the Akatsuki. Itachi unmistakably said that if she had decided to renege on her half of the agreement, then his portion would be terminated as well.

"Aw, come on now, Sakura; don't have a break down on me over a few meaningless words. It would be a lot easier for you if you would just admit that your alliance with the Akatsuki is as close as you could possibly get to stomping on Naruto's precious and vulnerable heart. Admit it, Sakura, you don't care about him as much as you say—your actions show it," Sasuke chastised sarcastically.

The worry, fear, and unsettledness that he had previously instilled in her heart with the mention of Naruto were smothered as anger seized her soul and forced her body to tremble in rage.

Sakura sneered, "I won't take lessons on caring from a person that never knew what caring about friend would be like, Sasuke. You only know hatefulness and deceit, so don't attempt to school me on something that you couldn't possibly understand.

"All you know are the burns on the walls of your brother's room caused by childish misunderstanding that led to a blind hatred. The only thing you know how to do with cherished memories is place them frame-down, never to glance at the glass-encased pictures again, because you're _afraid_—afraid of caring, afraid of doing something that you don't really understand in the first place."

By this, Sasuke looked slightly taken aback. An emotion flashed strongly in his eyes, but Sakura couldn't seem to place it. It wasn't Sasuke's usual aplomb or even the nasty sarcastic look; it almost seemed like Sasuke was hurt, but Sakura considered this impossible, so the logical processes in her brain classified it as Sasuke being offended.

Sakura's attention was temporarily removed from Sasuke when she heard a voice call out from behind her, "Lady Sakura, I apologize for interrupting, but I was wondering if you wanted to switch targets?"

Suddenly Sakura remembered that she was initially supposed to be after Karin… not Sasuke. In fact, she had left Karin completely open and unguarded, instead taking over Itachi's set opponent. Not a necessarily intelligent move.

When Sakura turned around, she saw Karin assaulting Itachi, who in turn smoothly blocked every would-be blow without breaking a sweat. The battle was one-sided, really—Karin was doing all of the work.

As she continued with her futile attempts, Karin had a strange look on her face—instead of the hatred that she should have had gracing her rotten features, she had a look of amusement. Maybe it wasn't amusement, but… attraction?

Before Sakura had a chance to answer Itachi's inquiry, Karin said while giggling idiotically, "Well, well… you're pretty good, Mr. Itachi Uchiha. You know… I think that I could be of great benefit to the Akatsuki… a great benefit to _you_, Mr. Uchiha." As she said this, she made an attempt to close the distance between her body and that of Itachi.

Without even thinking, Sakura pulled out a kunai and sent it flying in Karin's direction. Immediately afterwards, there was a line of brilliantly red blood gracing Karin's cheek.

"Shut it, Karin. Next time you decide to open your mouth, try to quit the sickening giggling and use some intelligence—if you're even capable of that," Sakura sneered, then turned to Itachi and continued, "I'm sorry, Itachi… but yeah, I think that it might be for the best that we switch it up. Sorry."

Sakura coughed a little—she knew that the only thing that it was best for what she wanted to do at the moment.

Suddenly, a rough grip on Sakura's shoulder forced her to whirl around.

Sasuke glared fiercely, "You're sorry to _him_? You're sorry to the man that committed the Uchiha genocide? You're sorry to him, even though you've become the worst type of hypocrite, and hurting your friends while doing so? You're sorry to _him_, even though you lied to _me_?"

At his last question, Sakura was only capable of gaping at him in absolute shock. This wasn't like Sasuke at all—he was always calm and collected, never really reacting to the events that occurred around him.

He grabbed her other shoulder, and still, all she could do was stare. As she stared, she couldn't help but to allow her mind to wander to the night that he left behind Team 7, her mind leaving behind the present situation.

That night may have crushed her heart, but she managed to pick up the remaining pieces and reform them into something that was a little different—she changed it from something that adored Sasuke, into something that abhorred Sasuke. And yet, no matter how many times she might have to reform it, it always would have the same composition.

"Did you forget, Sakura? What about me?" Sasuke demanded with insanity shining in his onyx eyes, as he began to shake her harshly.

At first, Sakura could only continue to stare at him; this time though, her stare was hateful.

A twisted smirk formed on Sakura's face as she replied, "You're right, Sasuke. What _about _you?"

She lifted one of her hands and used it to grab Sasuke's face. Sakura shook her head as spite flashed in her eyes. Using her hand that was wrapped around Sasuke's face, she forced his head to smash into the tree behind him.

She felt his jaw clench from the impact under her hand.

Sakura leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Well now, Sasuke, I suppose that I should give you some credit… you actually _have_ taught me something—you taught me _hatred_."

Along with the emphasis that she put on the last word, she removed her hand from his face, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him forward, only to land a nasty punch on the left side of his chest. Under her clenched fist, Sakura felt a nasty crunch—most likely the breaking of a few ribs. Oh darn.

Sasuke let out a pained hiss and forcefully pushed Sakura away from him, which Sakura carefully absorbed the impact of by bending her knees a bit and focusing on her balance.

Without waiting for Sasuke to gain his composure, Sakura launched herself towards him, but stopped herself in a squatting position at his feet. She smirked up at him as she wrapped her hands around his ankles with a firm grip. As Sakura began to stand up, she pulled Sasuke's feet out from under him and started to swing him in the air. Her smirk grew as she released him and he was slammed into the trunk of a tree.

Somehow though, this just wasn't satisfactory.

Sakura's brows furrowed, "You're going easy on me, Sasuke. Why? Even though you're getting your ass kicked, do you still think that I'm unworthy of your full efforts?"

There was no answer—Sasuke simply sat, slumped against the tree, attempting to catch his breath.

"Damn you, Sasuke! Are you even listening to me?" Sakura shouted furiously, as she appeared in front of him.

"Get up, damn it!" Sakura screamed in his face as she landed her chakra-fueled fist on the tree he was leaning on.

At first the tree visibly cracked a bit, but only seconds afterwards, it burst apart into tiny little splinters of wood. Immediately, Sakura shielded her face from the onslaught of woodchips by raising her arms in front of her face. Her arms were quickly covered in small cuts, as were her legs.

When she lowered her arms, small amounts of blood began to make their way out of her cuts, creating a web of tiny, red rivers on her arms and legs.

Sasuke was no longer in front of her.

His voice whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry, Sakura."

Sakura gasped—she knew what was coming.

She shook her head; she knew what was coming, but she couldn't allow it.

Sakura gracefully ducked down and maneuvered herself behind him.

"Yeah… I'm sorry too, Sasuke."

A pained look crossed Sakura's face as she landed a blow of perfectly calculated pressure on the nape of his neck.

Sasuke wavered a bit and murmured, "Please… no… but, I still have to…"

Just as his legs buckled underneath him, Sakura slipped her arms under his, then gently setting him on the ground.

Sakura's eyes scanned him up and down, taking special note of his wounds. There was blood dripping down his forehead—probably from the time that she smashed his head into a tree. Or maybe it ran from a cut from some of the splinters that littered his raven hair.

She bit her lip as she contemplated her desperate desire to immediately heal the dying person that lay in front of her.

Sakura shook the idea from her mind and turned her attention to see how Itachi and Kisame were faring.

Kisame seemed to be doing well considering an overjoyed grin owned his face. Suigetsu also looked like he was enjoying the challenge.

Then, her eyes moved to Itachi, who was still continuing with his graceful dodging, as his opponent attempted to fight and flirt with him all at once. His eyes slid in Sakura's direction as he kept on evading any attacks with ease.

He didn't open his mouth to say anything, but instead just looked at her—and she looked back. It wasn't an awkward stare, an objective look of calculation, or a glance of curiosity; Sakura didn't really understand what it even was—so she offered him a small smile.

Even though pain gripped her heart with claws of steel, Sakura managed to find comfort in this gaze.

"I'm going to Konoha now. Will you take over as a captain of sorts for me, Itachi?" she asked.

Nausea churned in her stomach and knotted her throat—she knew what she was about to do. It had been a dream for such a long time, but now—actually doing it—it was killing Sakura inside.

Her tiny smile was wavering painfully.

Itachi nodded in response. He allowed his gaze to linger on her for a moment longer before returning his attention to his opponent, who was quickly becoming miffed from the lack of attention that she had been receiving.

Sakura turned around and gently slid her cloak off of her shoulders. She carefully wrapped it around Sasuke as she hauled him over her shoulder. With one last glance at Itachi, she shot off into the shadows.

* * *

She was heading steadily south, knowing that within an hour or so, they would arrive at Konoha. However, an hour or so more of carrying Sasuke's deadweight didn't sound like a dazzling idea to Sakura at the moment. Sure—she could rip trees out by the roots and punch her way through stone walls, but Sasuke was seriously weighing her down.

Stopping, Sakura jumped limberly to the forest floor. She heaved Sasuke off of her shoulder and onto the ground in front of her.

Sighing, Sakura thought aloud, "Maybe I should at least heal his internal wounds so he won't die in my arms or anything… To come this far only to have him die moment before our goal was reached! I would be furious!"

First, she would work on any damage that might have been inflicted on his brain. She wanted to give him some herbal medication that would temporarily paralyze him to ensure his complete journey—and drop off—at Konoha. However, it would be at an enormous risk if he had any sort of serious brain damage, or it would be entirely ineffective if he had too much blood loss.

Gently, Sakura placed her right hand over Sasuke's forehead and probed for any damage with her chakra.

"Uh… oops," Sakura giggled maniacally to herself.

The damage she found—there was a lot.

With painstaking concentration, Sakura carefully wove her chakra through the damage and mended what she found. To repair injury on a cellular level had to be extremely thorough and required perfect attentiveness.

She let out a deep breath of air that she had been holding after she healed most of the major damage that would impair future brain functioning had it not been attended to immediately. Since Sakura was quite a skillful medic, Sasuke would heal quickly and be in good health soon enough.

However, since her wonderful handy work erased any risks there may have previously been with using that herbal medicine to temporarily paralyze him, she could finally ensure Sasuke's complete and unhampered journey to Konoha… by force-feeding it to him during his unconsciousness. The paralysis would only be partial anyways.

Smirking, Sakura reached into her medic pack and pulled out a small, clear vial that contained a slimy, grayish-green liquid.

As she shook it a bit, she thought aloud as her smirk expanded, "This… will be fun."

Popping the cork out of the top of the vial, Sakura used her other hand to open Sasuke's mouth. Propping up his head with her free hand, she allowed the thick solution to dribble into Sasuke's mouth and slowly down his throat.

Sakura beamed, "Drink up, Sasuke! Sadly, this probably tastes better than whatever sustenance you were provided with in Sound," her eyes narrowed into a glare, "Be grateful."

Once she had emptied the contents of the vial down his throat, she set his head back on the ground and squeezed the cork back into its proper place. After the cork was secure, she carefully tucked the vial back into her medic pack.

Now Sakura had one problem still—how was she supposed to make Sasuke at least a little bit of a lighter load?

She bit her lip as she scanned his body for any ideas.

"Stupid… ugly… enormous…" Sakura muttered under her breath as she pulled the thick, purple rope that he had tied around his waist. Once she had thrown it to the side, his white shirt was allowed to hang loosely.

Grinning to herself a bit, she said, "Well, now that he has lost ten pounds or so, this should…"

Sakura trailed off when she noticed that a piece of paper had fluttered out of Sasuke's shirt. Out of instinct, her hand quickly snapped out and grabbed it before the light breeze could carry it away.

Without checking her own strength, Sakura's strong hand accidentally crumpled the paper when her fist wrapped around it; this caused a bit of a frown to form on her delicate features.

Just as she was about to open her hand to look at the paper, she hesitated—what if it was personal?

Sakura snorted, "Personal? Yeah, right… it's probably a list of torture methods that he planned on trying out on Itachi today…"

Shaking off any remaining hesitation, she slowly unclenched her fingers. Sakura used particular care when she began to smooth out the paper.

She was initially startled by what she saw on the paper in her hands. She was actually quite certain that her eyes were failing her.

Her agape mouth gradually transformed into a brilliant beam as she laughed, "Well, it looks like it was personal after all!" her face turned somber when she added, "But I must say that I'm honored… You hold us in the same esteem that you did your family…"

Sakura busied herself with finding a spot to store his paper—she found the perfect pocket to keep it on the inside of his white shirt. He would be able to find it there on his own when he woke up in Konoha.

Still smiling, Sakura pulled Sasuke up and over her shoulder and darted off into the darkness of the forest once again.

As she pounced from one tree branch to the next, Sakura smiled at the knowledge that in Sasuke's pocket rested a picture of him and his family, which was carefully taped to a picture of Team 7.

Maybe Sakura didn't have to hate him so much, after all.


	18. Chapter 17

Hello, all~

I finally present you with Chapter 17. It comes after a ridiculously long waiting period - I know. D: Don't hate me. I love you.

If you are still interested in reading, here is a mini recap:

Itachi finds Sakura's sketchpad with a drawing of him in it, Sakura joins the Akatsuki and takes place of the old leader, Sakura decides to completely reform the Akatsuki and force them to use their talents for good things, their first mission is to own Snake, Sakura kicks Sasuke's ass, and here we are! That should cover it, although I'm sure that I left a lot out.

Enjoy!

* * *

As Sakura maneuvered throughout the trees, she had one question in mind: now how to go about "dropping" Sasuke off at Konoha? She knew that her plan to go about this had to be foolproof so the medication did not wear off and Sasuke would not escape.

She could always simply leave him just barely inside of the village entrance. That plan had several risks though: she could be noticed in her more-than-obvious uniform, Sasuke could go unnoticed and end up dying, Sasuke could escape, or Sakura could even be kidnapped. The cons seemed to outweigh the singular benefit of Sasuke making it into Konoha; therefore this was certainly not a preferable option.

Another method of handling this could be to take him straight to the hospital in Konoha—the nurses knew her well, and it would not really cause chaos as long as she made sure to tuck away her cloak before heading inside.

Sakura was well aware that Konoha intelligence had already learned that she was working with the Akatsuki in some way. They probably did not know many details, but they always had a way of knowing everything that goes on—even if their knowledge was not perfectly detailed, they would certainly have the gist about it.

However, even if Konoha intelligence knew about it, this certainly would not be something that they would shout all over the village, but rather hush up. Therefore only the necessary people would know it—Tsunade, probably Kakashi, and maybe Naruto. They might not let Naruto in on it though, in fear of his reaction. Sakura did not doubt that they would procrastinate breaking the news to him as long as they possibly could.

This sounded like the best option, really. There were not any cons (unless something went wrong), and it would be a relatively safe way to deliver Sasuke to immediate medical care. Plus, Naruto would be contacted if Sasuke was found, so Naruto would also know by instinct that Sakura was perfectly well, although he might be a bit envious that she did it on her own.

She was getting close to Konoha—she could feel it. She felt like she was returning home after a long mission, looking forward to a good night's sleep in her own bed. The next morning, she would visit Ino in her shop and eat lunch at the ramen stand with Naruto.

Yet, as she fantasized, Sakura knew that this was not how things would go this time. This time was a simple, _short_ visit; not a complete return. She would need to seize this opportunity to soak up as much of the vivacity of Konoha that she possibly could, because she had absolutely no idea when she would be able to return after this. There was even the possibility that she may never again set foot on Konoha soil.

With a sigh, Sakura realized that there was no use going into shock over it—this is what she chose and she would have to bear the consequences. She was well aware that she would not be a welcome person in Konoha anymore when she decided to don a cloak of the Akatsuki and to permanently desecrate her village by slashing the symbol on her forehead protector.

On the brighter side of things, at least she was getting the opportunity to say her final farewell to the place that she would always call home. To Sakura, it was a blessing to get one final chance to look upon the stone faces of the Hokages and to walk in the very places that she once laughed with her close friends—not friends, _family_. With this, maybe she would be able to walk away without regrets this time—without so much pain.

Sakura skidded to a sudden halt when she saw a red-orange wall that surrounded Konoha peaking through the trees ahead of her.

She was becoming giddy as she jogged juxtaposed to the wall, eagerly anticipating running out of wall, only to find the entrance. And so she did. There, in front of Sakura as she looked ahead through the trees, stood the imposing gates to Konoha. Normally, she would find the gates to be welcoming, but this time, it felt more like they wanted to keep her out, rather than to welcome Sakura home.

This was certainly the first time that she had seen the gates like this though… for some reason, they were _closed_. Perhaps that is what was responsible for the unwelcome feelings. Either way, it was rather strange for the gates to actually be closed, instead of propped open like they normally would be.

The gates being closed made Sakura worry that Konoha was in some sort of danger that had forced them to take extra security precautions. Regardless, this meant that she had to use a little extra stealth and definitely stay alert. Even if she always _felt_ safe here, it did not mean that she always _was_ safe here.

Before Sakura decided to strut into Konoha, she removed her headband and took her Akatsuki cloak off of Sasuke. She stuffed them both into her medic pack; it was bulging, it was so overfilled—Sakura felt a little strange having so much bulk hanging at her side.

With all of the evidence of her new self securely tucked away, she moved closer to the edge of the trees.

Knowing what she was about to do, Sakura snickered, "Sorry, Sasuke."

She giggled as she used her mighty muscles to launch him over the gates. O how contrition seized her soul.

First, a thud resounded, only to be followed by a groan, and topped off with another giggle.

Next, Sakura followed in Sasuke's path over the gates; just without the painful landing due to medically induced paralysis.

She landed carefully next to him…and someone else. An ANBU squad member was peering at her through the holes in their mask. Speechless, Sakura simply stared back.

"Can I help…?" Sakura trailed off. They were gone in a flutter of long black hair before she had the chance to finish what she was trying to say.

That was a bad sign, but if she managed to do what she came her to do in a rapid manner, then she might not have to deal with the consequences. The quiet stare that she had received from the ANBU squad member had unsettled her quite a bit. Their eyes portrayed no emotion through their ocelot mask.

Sakura shook it off and heaved Sasuke over her shoulder. She took a quick scan of the premises, and put her senses on alert for a surprise ambush.

To avoid walking through the center of town, she would have to take the long way. Walking through the center of town would have had its benefits, such as making it harder for ANBU to ambush her, but she did not have to the time to stop for any small talk that people might want to make with her.

Even though Sakura knew that it would draw attention if she was running, she broke out into a sprint. With each new second that passed, she became more worried about the person in the ocelot mask. Even though Sakura was an ANBU squad captain, she could not quite recognize him. Then again, ANBU was not necessarily small, so it could have been anybody; it could have even been a newly inducted member.

That _anybody_ may have not only known who she was… but also what she was up to. The way that they acted was strange enough for her to assume that they were currently informing Tsunade of her presence.

The clinic was finally in sight. Just as Sakura was about to let out a sigh a relief, she froze.

"Hey, Sakura… I think you dropped something," a voice tinkled from behind her. Sakura knew that voice all too well.

Knowing who was standing behind her, this situation had become much worse than any ambush would have been.

Sakura slowly turned around and said hesitantly, "Ah… Lady Tsunade. I'm glad that I could meet the person that would be able the most in this predicament."

Sakura internally groaned when she saw what Tsunade was holding in her grip—her Akatsuki cloak was being clutched by her right hand and was gently waving in the breeze.

"It's rather strange, Sakura… you disappear for a couple days only to turn up with Akatsuki equip and Sasuke draped over your shoulder. I think that we should finish discussing this in my office," Tsunade ordered.

Tsunade's calm demeanor was a little unsettling considering she was known for her uncontrolled, ferocious temper.

It was useless to worry though, since she would find out momentarily. Tsunade smirked, turned around, and started walking in the direction of her office. It was tempting for Sakura to bolt, however she knew that it would be absolutely worthless if she tried that on her teacher. Plus, she really did not want to be forced to fight with Tsunade—not only did Sakura hold her teacher in high esteem, but also, they knew all of each other's moves.

Biting her lip, Sakura followed her teacher to her office. This would certainly be interesting.

* * *

While they were walking in the direction of her office, the same ANBU member with his ocelot mask appeared at Tsunade's side. Sakura could not help but to glare.

"Take the boy that she's holding to the clinic for immediate, emergency care. Beckon Shizune and tell her to keep working on him until I show up—then I'll take over," the vicious Hokage commanded.

He walked over and held his arms out expectantly.

As Sakura shifted Sasuke off of her shoulder, she growled under her breath, "I think that a rat-mask would have been more fitting."

His head jerked up as though he had heard her and his long black hair fluttered gently. Maybe it was not even a man, but instead a woman? Regardless of their gender, Sakura was still infuriated with them for tipping Tsunade off about her.

She forcefully heaved Sasuke into their open arms, only to be disappointed that their stance did not falter one bit. As they set off for the clinic, Sakura's eyes followed their every movement with contempt.

However, her eyes quickly softened—she was not sure why, but she wasnot irritated anymore. It was almost as though she subconsciously understood something that she previously had not. It was simply an ANBU member being vigilant and fulfilling their duties, and that was all.

Turning her attention back to the current Hokage, Sakura determined that this was going to be a long and painful walk.

* * *

As Tsunade sank into the seat behind her paper-covered desk, she said airily, "Well, Sakura? Who was it?"

Who was it? Who was what?

As Tsunade patiently waited for a reply, she draped the silky, black robe across the piles of paperwork that littered her desk.

This had Sakura a bit confused—she was expecting some sort of punishment, such as banishment from the village. She shifted a bit as she stood in front of the desk.

"I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade… I just don't quite understand what you're asking," Sakura said hesitantly. She was very well that there were many sharks lurking in the water that she was desperately treading in this situation—if she was not careful, she was ultimately doomed.

"Who commissioned you to infiltrate the Akatsuki without consulting me first?" Tsunade interrogated, her eyes narrowing in anger.

This left Sakura awestruck—Tsunade did not think that she betrayed the village: she thought that Sakura was _working for them_.

When Sakura opened her mouth to supply some sort of answer, she could only muster a small choking noise.

Tsunade stood out of her seat now, "They probably told you not to tell me, didn't they? This isn't child's play, Sakura, this is _dangerous_! Especially since they sent you in with no back up! I've been rather suspicious of Danzo for a while, but I didn't think that he would go this far as to put my student in mortal danger!"

Sakura smiled quietly, "That's right, Lady Tsunade; I'm your student. And for that reason, I believe that you of all people would have the most faith in me."

At first, Tsunade looked down for a few moments—she did this long enough that Sakura was wondering if she had said something wrong.

However, any worry that Sakura was harboring disappeared when she suddenly felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around her torso in an embrace.

"I was really worried about you, Sakura. I was afraid of losing another person that meant so much to me. And Naruto… he's been a wreck. He hasn't smiled once since you left. I've been trying to keep this from him for a while because I have a feeling that if I tell him… he'll come after you," Tsunade said worriedly.

Sakura laughed, "That's not a feeling, Lady Tsunade—that's common knowledge. Here's what we can do… you can tell him to stop worrying about me since, of course, I'm just on a routine mission and I will write him a note while I'm here. I would appreciate it if you could deliver it to him for me."

Tsunade nodded, and then paused with a scheming look on her face.

"I'll be sure to do that for you, Sakura… You know, now that you've successfully infiltrated the Akatsuki, you have put yourself in a position that could be very useful to Konoha," she paused, then continued with slight hesitation, "You could lure them here. Well, maybe not here, but you could lure them into a planned ambush."

Sakura bit her lip, "Lady Tsunade…"

"Well, Sakura?" Tsunade asked.

Sakura opened the pack at her waist and pull out some paper and a pen. She quickly scribbled down a few words for Naruto: "Hey Naruto, don't worry so much. Have a little more faith in your teammate here. I miss you! Lots of love! –Sakura …P.S. I'm sorry that we couldn't do it together."

She carefully folded the note and picked up her clouded cloak off of the Hokage's desk. She draped it over her left arm and placed the note where the cloak had just laid.

Sakura turned around to leave, then stated in a finalistic tone, "I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade, but that's something that I just can't do."

"But Sakura, you can—have more faith in yourself!" the Hokage said with vehemence.

Sakura smiled then replied, "It's not a matter of lacking faith in myself, Lady Tsunade. In fact, I'm sure that I could lead them to an ambush. It's not that I can't—it's that I _won't_."

If shock commanded Tsunade's face in that moment, Sakura would never know; without turning around, she walked calmly out of the office, out of the building, and back into the streets of Konoha.

It was rather ironic how as she and Tsunade had discussed Sakura's relations with the Akatsuki, both of them had been completely oblivious to the unwelcome guest that listened in from outside the window.

* * *

She took one moment to turn around and take in the grand faces of the past Hokages looking over her. The setting sun shone with brilliant color upon their carefully carved faces. As she studied them closely, she began to dream what it would have been like to meet them all. When her eyes fell upon the beautiful face of her teacher, a twinge of contrition seized her heart.

Sakura desperately wished that she could stay, at least for a while. However, the cloak that was draped so carefully over her arm was a reminder that this was impossible—this wish was simply a wish, and would remain just that.

With a shake of her head and the burning threat of tears, Sakura raced to the wall around the village—she was not going to risk being intercepted by any ANBU members again. Within seconds, she was there; like a gecko, she climbed to the top of the wall and then flipped herself over to the other side and onto the forest floor.

For a moment or so, she remained in a crouched position with her eyes closed painfully tight—she refused to allow those tears to vacate her eyes. She would transform all of her worthless woe into something more useful—she would turn any sorrow that remained in her heart into vehement anger.

From this moment on, any sadness that she ever experienced was dead to Sakura, in fact, in her eyes it could not and did not even exist—instead, fury would fuel her through all of the battles to come. With hard determination in her eyes, she rose from the ground with rage as her new resolve.

She swiftly slid her Akatsuki cloak over her shoulders and darted off into the forest; Sakura knew what she had to do—it was time to leave Konoha behind. _Permanently_.

* * *

Dun dun dun. Well, I hope that you enjoyed it. :D Even if you want to disembowel me.

Sadly, the coming of the next chapter will have a lengthy waiting period as well - I'm leaving for vacation this Saturday. However, I think I might do some writing if it turns out that I have spare time. Who knows? Well, Itachi knows, but Itachi knows everything.

Sorry for any awful errors. Peace out!

~Selah M. Snow


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